Fastballs
by JediFighterPilot2727
Summary: Just a place for me to put my Bechloe one shots and song fics! Rating is T unless posted otherwise! Cover art by tumblr user acawiedersehen. Chapter 15 - Hands to Myself
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So, I started this as a place to post all of my one shots, instead of having them scattered everywhere. Some of them will be be from the Tell the World universe, some won't. I take prompts, even though my list is steadily growing so it may take a while.**

 **The rating for these is T unless otherwise noted!**

 **This was a song prompt from Y0UNG R3AD3R. It's standalone, established Bechloe**

 **If You Ever Come Back - The Script**

Chloe wasn't exactly sure what had happened.

One day they were discussing buying a house, and the next Beca wasn't answering her texts.

It had currently been about four days since she had heard from the brunette, and she was starting to get worried.

She was sure Beca was ok; because alright, she had called the recording studio's security guard to make sure that the DJ hadn't been, ya' know, brutally murdered. He had reported back that takeout was delivered twice a day, and coffee once. So she knew the brunette was alive, she was just choosing not to speak to Chloe.

She even went so far as to try and visit Beca at work, but it turns out that she had been taken off the list of allowed visitors.

She was totes ok with that, and respected Beca's privacy,

She was also totes not freaking out.

Except all of that was a lie and she was 100% freaking out.

Because things were going great, awesome in fact, and then she starts talking to her girlfriend about buying a home together and said girlfriend goes AWOL?

Not cool.

Aubrey is positive that Beca is gone for good.

Even after a year of being together, the blonde is still apprehensive about her relationship with Beca.

Fully supportive.

But apprehensive.

And right now, Chloe is a little apprehensive too.

Not about Beca.

Because she is absolutely positive that Beca is the one for her.

But maybe a little concerned that she pushed things too far too fast.

They'd only been together a year, and they had the funds for a house, but maybe she shouldn't have pushed.

And she would gladly accept that and back off, but Beca wasn't taking her calls at the moment.

With everyday that passed, she was more and more convinced that Beca would not be coming back home. Panic rose in her at the thought. That she had so easily destroyed something that it had taken so many years to build.

She refused to acknowledge it.

Refused to even admit that Beca was gone.

As far as she was concerned, it was just a busy week at the studio.

So busy that Beca needed to eat and sleep at the studio and didn't even have time to answer Chloe's phone calls or text messages.

Yeah, it sounded pathetic to her too.

After a week, the lies she told herself were even harder to believe. At first, Aubrey was the only one who assumed that the DJ had ditched out on her, but now, now the rest of Chloe's friends were beginning to agree.

She clung to hope though. Hope that one day Beca would walk through the front door like nothing had even happened.

She wasn't holding up well, to be honest She hadn't been sleeping that great, anxious that she would miss Beca's phone call, should the other woman suddenly decide to call in the middle of the night. She still ordered Beca's favorite whenever dinner time came around, convinced that on the off chance she didn't get that order of cheese fries; Beca would come home and feel like she had been forgotten. She still made an extra cup of coffee every morning, just like Beca liked it. Even though she had to pour it out every night when she came home and it remained untouched.

She wished that Beca would just say something, anything. If she was being broken up with, then she would at least like to know.

She wanted to know if Beca thought about her; or if she was easily forgotten, put out like the trash and never remembered.

A small part of her hoped that Beca was just as miserable as she was; even though she refused to acknowledge that she was miserable, putting on a happy face even for the girl in the mirror.

When she got home from work- 9 days post Beca- she shed her bag and her shoes before clicking the deadbolt into place. She paused though, fingers ghosting over the cold metal of the lock before sliding it back into the open position. Beca had a habit of forgetting her keys - taking a cab to the studio so that she could work during her commute.

She could hear her father's voice in her head, chastising her about leaving the door unlocked in a city like Los Angeles. Really though, if someone did break in, what could they take? The most important thing that Chloe had wasn't even here.

She left the light on in the entryway, hoping that the sliver of light shining out into the hallway would act as a beacon.

The whole charade reminded her of when she was ten and the family dog had run away, slipping out of a hole in the backyard fence. She had left a bowl of food out every night for a month after the dog had disappeared, even though she knew deep down that Rosco was never coming back.

Beca was not her dog though, she was her girlfriend; and she couldn't just run away. She had clothes and shoes and recording equipment - other things that people accumulated during the act of living. Granted, half of her clothes, her favorite pair of boots, and her laptop were all missing.

Still, that didn't mean she was gone forever, right?

She ate her dinner in silence, staring across the small table at the extra plate of food that sat untouched. When she was finished, she placed the leftovers in tupperware and labeled them, quickly washing the dishes and cleaning up the small mess in the kitchen.

She automatically reached for the tea kettle, filling it and setting on the stove. It was their nightly ritual - Chloe would make tea and they would sit and watch whatever trash tv happened to be on.

Decompressing.

Talking.

Laughing.

Tonight their show of choice happened to be The Voice, and Chloe flicked tv on, watching the commercials as she waited for the kettle to boil. There was a noise out in the hall and she froze, heart thundering in her chest as she listened.

She could hear the door handle as it turned, hear the familiar thud of Beca's boots being kicked off.

The tea kettle whistled just then, and she startled, only to smile as she heard footsteps fading into the kitchen. The kettle stopped its rattling, and the cupboard was opened and shut.

She held her breath, eyes glued to the television. Praying that her ears weren't playing tricks on her.

A figure passed in front of the couch and a warm mug was placed in her hands.

Beca sat next to her, prying away some of the blanket to cover her bare feet.

"Team Adam is going to kick team Christina's ass."

And it was just like she was never gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: xan-the-13th asked:**

 **Now imagine the Bellas are searching for Beca in LA but they can never found her because she uses the pseudonym Reggie.**

If there's one thing Chloe Beale loved, it was surprises.

The only thing she loved more than getting surprises was giving surprises. Seeing the look on someone's face when they received something unexpectedly that they wanted was the best feeling in the world.

Beca was fantastic at giving surprises, especially to Chloe. On more than one occasion the redhead had woken up to find a flash drive containing the DJ's newest mix sitting with her keys with a note telling her how some aspect of the songs had reminded Beca of Chloe. She loved those mixes, usually listening to them on repeat until she received the next one.

The DJ was not generally a fan of getting surprises though. She startled easily and wasn't really a big on sudden changes in plans. The Bellas were all made aware early in their relationship with the brunette that surprises were not welcome.

As with most Beca related things, Chloe was the one exception to the rule.

Considering their whole relationship started when she burst into the younger girls shower, Beca had pretty much known from day one to expect surprises from Chloe.

Chloe's surprises were always good surprises. She knew Beca better than, well, anybody; and so whatever she came up with was always exactly what the DJ wanted or needed (even if she wasn't willing to admit it right away). The only time that she had been afraid that her surprise would be unwelcome was when she had confessed her true feelings for the brunette. She had been terrifeid that Beca wouldn't return her feelings, or worse; she would completely ruin their friendship. Fortunately, Beca had reciprocated her feelings, and here they were, 6 months later.

This surprise though, this one Chloe was sure about. Beca had been griping about this conference for weeks; she had stated over and over that she didn't want to leave Chloe for the weekend, but that her boss had insisted that she attend a soundboard exhibition in San Diego. Chloe had volunteered to go with her, but her girlfriend had maintained that it was unnecessary because the whole thing was going to bore HER to death, so why should Chloe have to suffer too.

Chloe was not one to take no for an answer, especially when it involved being separated from her super hot girlfriend.

So she had booked the short flight to San Diego to leave right after she got through teaching class on Friday. She was going to go straight to the hotel that Beca was staying at, make up some excuse to get in her room, order up a bottle of champagne, put on her skimpiest lingerie, and wait for Beca to get back.

Beca loved sexy Chloe surprises, and she would be extra excited since she had been dreading this trip so much. Thinking about Beca excited made Chloe excited, which is why she was currently fidgeting in the back of a cab, fighting through San Diego traffic. She flipped through her phone but tucked it away after a moment, she was trying desperately to avoid texting Beca - she didn't want to arouse suspicion, she was supposed to be shopping with Stacie.

"There's a lot of traffic today, is always this busy down here?" She asked conversationally.

"Comic-con." The driver responded. "I hate the traffic, but it's good for business."

"Comic-con is this week?"

"Yeah, normally people around here don't walk down the street wearing halloween costumes." he grinned in the mirror and Chloe laughed.

"Oh good, I was beginning to think that everyone in this town was just crazy!"

"Oh, they're crazy all right, just not that crazy." He pulled the cab under the portico and gestured up at the tall building. "This is you, Marriott at the marina, hope you're reserved; cause I'm sure they're booked!"

"Definitely." Chloe nodded, passing him a few bills. "Thanks for the ride!"

"No problem, enjoy your weekend!"

She tossed her single bag over her shoulder and made her way into the hotel, slightly in awe of the building. She always loved walking into hotels the first time, especially ones as grand as this; it was like entering a whole different world.

Glancing down to make sure the girls were at attention, she made her way to the check in counter. She leaned up against it, making sure to hit just the right angle.

"Hi-" Her eyes swept down to read the name tag, "- Michael. I accidentally locked myself out of my room, and I just need an extra key."

"No problem, name on the room?"

"Beca Mitchell."

"Beca . . . . Mitchell . . . " His tongue clicked between his teeth as he scrolled down the page. "I'm not . . . not seeing a Beca Mitchell."

"Oh! Sorry, it's probably under Rebeca Mitchell."

"Hmmmm, nope; sorry. What's the room number? I can look it up that way."

Inwardly, Chloe groaned, of course this couldn't be easy.

"Okay, listen, I may have fibbed a little bit when I said I locked myself out of my room. My girlfriend is here on a business trip and I just came to surprise her, I can't ask her room number because she would totes catch on."

"Normally, I would love to help you out, but I can't do anything if I don't even have a name." He shrugged apologetically.

"But, I don't understand, this is the hotel that she said she was staying at."

"I'm sorry, there's just no Beca Mitchell registered here. I can call around to our other local branches and see if maybe she's there?"

"Could you? That would be fantastic!"

She pulled out her phone as he talked on his, deciding to double check a few things.

Chloe: Did you get checked into your hotel ok?

It took a few minutes, but the telltale dots soon appeared on her screen.

Beca: yep! :) how was class?

Chloe: nobody called me Ms. Meanie Head, so better than last week at least.

Beca: play your cards right, you might be Mrs. Meanie Head one day ;)

Chloe: that sounds like such a step up

Beca: I mean, you get me *shrug*

Chloe: def worth it then

Chloe: what hotel are you staying at again

Beca: Marriott at the Marina

Beca: it's pretty sweet, we should definitely come together some time

Chloe: totes

"Ma'am, none our sister hotels have anyone by that name either."

"Oh."

"Is there anything else I can do for you? I would offer to set you up in a room, but we're all booked."

"No, that's ok, thanks for your help."

"No problem, please, come back next time you're in town."

"Of course."

Chloe made her way back out onto the street; this was an unexpected road block to her plan. Maybe Beca had just gotten the name of the hotel wrong, that was possible; she didn't always pay the best attention to her surroundings when she was in work mode. She walked across the street to the closest hotel and repeated her spiel to the front desk there.

Nothing.

She walked down to the next hotel.

Nothing.

When she had checked five different hotels she was starting to get worried. Chewing her thumbnail, she sat on one of the sidewalk benches and pulled out her phone.

"Aubrey Posen speaking."

"Brey, you have caller ID, you knew it was me."

"Chloe, what's up? I though you were in San Diego surprising Beca?"

"I am."

"But?"

"I can't find her."

She could hear Aubrey snort.

"I know she's tiny, but how can you lose her?"

"She's not booked at the hotel that she says she's staying at."

"That's odd, are you sure she's supposed to be staying there?"

"Yes! I double checked!"

"Well what do you think is going on?"

"I don't know, I've checked like every hotel on this little strip and she isn't booked at any of them."

"Do you think she lied about where she's staying?"

"I don't think she would do something like that."

"I wouldn't either, but obviously she's not where she says she is."

Chloe sighed, glancing out to the sidewalk to see a small figure in a Spiderman costume walk past. She giggled.

"What?"

"Apparently comic-con is this weekend and some lady in a spiderman costume walked by, mask and everything."

"If they were wearing a mask, how do you know it was a girl?"

"Boobs."

"Oh."

"Wait, she's coming back this way."

"Spiderchick?"

"Yeah."

"Maybe you can ditch Beca for her, swing away on her webs."

Chloe full-on laughed at that, but stopped short when the spandex-clad figure spoke.

"Chloe?"

She would know that voice anywhere.

"Brey, I gotta go, I found Beca."

Spiderchick shifted nervously in front of her and she bit back a laugh.

"Beca? Why are you dressed like Spiderman?"

"Why are you in San Diego?" The mask stared back at her with giant black spider eyes.

"I came to surprise you, why are you dressed like Spiderman?"

"You flew all the way out here to surprise me?" The mask was unblinking.

"Becs . . ." Breath huffed out of her nose in an effort to avoid a bout of giggles.

"Comic-con?"

"There isn't a soundboard exhibition is there?"

"No?"

"And you aren't staying at the Marriott are you?"

"That part was actually true."

"The guy at the front desk said that there was no Beca Mitchell registered."

"Ohhh, yeah, well remember how I told you that my boss thinks my name is Reggie?"

"Yeah?"

"Whenever I book stuff for work I just book it under Reggie Mitchell and I guess I got in the habit."

"Oh, that makes sense."

"So, I guess you know my secret now huh?"

"What, that you're a huge nerd who loves Spiderman and lies to her girlfriend about business trips os that she can secretly attend comic-con?" she chewed her tongue, face red with effort of holding back her laughter.

"Yea, sorry about that."

"With that costume? I'm sure you'll find a way to make it up to me." She winked and stood, delivering a sharp smack to Beca's backside.

Beca may have been wearing a mask, but she could feel the smirk and eye roll that accompanied her next words.

"Come on Mary Jane, let's get you back to the hotel room before I'm forced to attend an entirely different type of exhibition."

The giggles finally tumbled out of her, and she could feel Beca's glare through the mask.

"I'm trying to be sexy here, Beale."

"Oh trust me, roleplay is sexy. Hey! We should see if the concierge can order up some silly string - you know, really make the costume authentic!"

She had expected Beca to turn for the hotel, but instead she leaned in until the fabric covering her mouth brushed Chloe's ear and sent a shiver down her spine.

"I may not be able to make real spider webs, but I can certainly tie you up."

Chloe stumbled at the words. And here she was thinking she was the one with the surprise this weekend.


	3. Chapter 3

Saturday morning at the Bellas' house was always interesting. Everyone always woke up at different times, and if you watched, you could pretty much tell what time of day it was by who was up.

First, there were Stacie and Chloe who always woke up at six o'clock sharp, rain or shine, to go on their morning run. Next were Jessica and Ashley, who were in charge of breakfast. Then CR and Flo, who usually showed up about the time the coffee started brewing. Emily usually came downstairs around the same time that Stacie and Chloe got back from their run, and Fat Amy would always slide in the door, (no doubt having been at Bumper's), right as the food was being served. No one ever really knew when Lily showed up, they would just look around and *poof* there she would be.

Beca was a different story.

It was no secret that the DJ loved her sleep, the first thing everyone learned upon moving in together was to not wake Beca up unless you needed to go to the hospital and she was the only possible ride.

Or if you were Chloe.

Chloe was the one weak spot in the DJ's sleeping pattern. If Chloe made plans for early in morning, then Beca was there; otherwise, the chances for the brunette waking up before 11AM on a Saturday were nil. This was even more true senior year when 8AM classes had restricted her ability to sleep in every other day of the week.

Usually, she would stumble into the kitchen after the dishes had already been cleared away and the other Bellas had dispersed; pouring a bowl of cereal or sweet talking Chloe into making pancakes.

It was just the way things worked, it was routine, it was expected.

Which is exactly why the sound of footsteps stomping on the stairs during breakfast came as a surprise to everyone.

Amy looked around around the table and pointed to each Bella in turn as if taking a silent roll call. When she finished, she shrugged; and they all turned towards the staircase.

Sure enough, their fearless leader rounded the corner, marching straight to front door.

They all watched through the window as she ran around the front yard, waving her arms above her head furiously. They could hear faint shouts littered with expletives as Beca finally planted herself at the foot of one the trees, shaking her fists up at the branches.

The Bellas all shared a look, as if trying to determine the status of the situation. It would have been funny, really; if it hadn't been so frightening. The DJ's hair - which had once been piled in a messy bun, was spilling in tangled spirals around her face; and last night's make up was smeared in black streaks around her eyes. Her bare feet were swallowed up in her too long pajama bottoms, and if Chloe didn't know any better, she would swear that the younger girl was waving a curling iron rather menacingly in the oak tree's direction.

When she looked back at the Bellas, they were all staring at her expectantly.

"What?"

"She's your girlfriend." CR shrugged.

Chloe sighed, but stood; leveling a glare at each of them before making her way to the door.

"Remember, she's a southpaw! Stay out of range of that left hook!" Fat Amy shouted after her.

Once the door was shut behind her, she slowly made her way towards the tree careful not to startle her apparently very angry girlfriend.

"Becs?" She called out softly, hoping to diffuse the situation. But Beca was either ignoring her or couldn't hear her over the steady stream of expletives tumbling out of her own mouth.

She placed a soft hand on the DJ's shoulder. "Becs?" She ducked out of the way as the brunette swung around.

"Motherfuckin' punk ass little bitch!" Beca screamed.

"Hey now, I thought I told you not to call me that unless we were in the bedroom?" She joked.

"Not you! That!" The DJ turned back to the tree, curling iron shaking once again.

"The . . . tree?"

"No! That! That stupid son of a bitch squirrel that won't shut the fuck up!"

"Squirrel?"

"Or chipmunk, or whatever the fuck it is! How am I supposed to know, I'm not a damn Disney princess; I don't have forrest animals that follow me around and do my hair! I'm just trying to sleep and this asshole wont shut up!"

Chloe choked back a laugh - that would definitely not help the situation - and looked up towards the branches, shielding her eyes against the glare of the sun.

Sure enough, there he was, a tiny little squirrel gnawing on an acorn; and if she listened closely, she could hear a faint chittering noise.

"Becs, just hand me the curling iron okay?" Beca extended the hand with the curling iron in it towards the redhead, keeping her eyes locked on the creature in the tree. Chloe took the iron away carefully before placing herself in between Beca and the tree. "Becs, Becs." She brought her free hand up to cup the younger girl's cheek, a smile lighting her lips as their blue eyes met. "Hey, sweetie. Why don't we leave the squirrel alone. If you come inside, I'll fix you pancakes, and we can take a shower and then we can snuggle up in bed and take a nap."

"How," the DJ growled out through gritted teeth. "Am I supposed to nap with this fucker out here singing the song of his people?!"

"We can turn on some nice, relaxing music and you won't even know he's out here, I promise. Now come on."

Beca's shoulders slumped in defeat and she watched her feet shuffle in the grass before bringing her eyes up slyly to meet Chloe's.

"Peanut butter pancakes?"

Chloe tossed an arm around the DJ's shoulders, pulling her in close to press a kiss to hair.

"Peanut butter pancakes. And bacon."

"Awes." Beca brought her hand up to tangle her fingers with Chloe's. "And on Monday we can call an exterminator about the pest problem."

"How about we just buy a wave machine? It seems a little less violent."

"See this is why I'm with you, Beale; you keep me out of trouble."

"It's a tough job, but somebody's gotta keep you out of prison."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: So for this one, we're just going to pretend that Jesse didn't happen!**

 **Merry Christmas!**

The first two years at the Bella's house, Chloe practically had to drag Beca down the stairs to help decorate the Christmas tree.

The DJ had to be bribed with copious amounts of alcohol in order for her to participate in the Bella's annual tradition of campus caroling.

And if you even so much as made a joke about mistletoe, she would give you a glare that would send you into the new year.

So when Chloe came home from Thanksgiving break to find a Christmas sweater wearing Beca toting boxes of Christmas ornaments and lights down from the attic; she was shocked to say the least.

"Bec?"

"Yeah?" The DJ grunted, setting a box labeled 'X-mas Candles' at Chloe's feet.

"What - what are you doing?"

"Getting the Christmas stuff ready for when all the girls get back tonight, what's it look like I'm doing?"

She picked a strand of tinsel out of Beca's brown locks.

"Ummm, I see that, but why?"

Beca swatted her hand away.

"Because . . . ." Blue eyes looked up at her expectantly. "We always decorate the house on the day everybody gets back? And then we watch Christmas movies and get wasted on eggnog. Come on, if I remember correctly, you were a driving force behind this tradition."

"And if I remember correctly, I usually have to drag you away from your mixing board kicking and screaming to get you to participate."

"Yeah well, I figured I would save you the trouble this year; consider it your early christmas present." the DJ jogged around Chloe and swatted her on the ass before making her way up the stairs. "Come on, Red- there's a ugly christmas sweater with your name on it and a bunch more boxes to go!" She disappeared around the corner and Chloe was left to contemplate the recent turn of events.

 _Oh well; if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!_

It turns out, there were quite a few more boxes of decorations than either of them remembered; so by the time the other Bellas arrived, sweaters had been shed for tank tops and the egg nog had been broken out a little early.

She wasn't going to complain though, if grumpy Beca was cute, excited Beca was downright adorable. She half expected this new side of her co-captain to shrivel up once the others arrived, but if anything it only intensified as the night of decorating wore on. Surprisingly enough, the brunette even volunteered to be the one hoisted between Stacie and Emily to put the star on top of the tree.

As they all laughed at the antics of Jim Carrey as the Grinch later that night, she found her mind (and her eyes), wandering in the direction of the DJ beside her. Why was Beca so cheery all of the sudden? She hated Christmas. Well, okay, maybe not hate; but she sure griped a lot about commercialism and how nothing was really merry about telling kids some old guy is going to sneak into their house at night.

She didn't know how long she had been staring before Beca turned and dark blue eyes met her own brighter ones. Her lips pulled back in a half grimace, embarrassed to be caught staring; but Beca only smiled and snuggled closer under the blankets.

Cheery Beca that openly liked cuddling?

Very weird indeed.

It was two weeks later when she finally confronted Beca. Two weeks filled with cookies and carols and eggnog. Two weeks where everything was green and red and gold and silver and blue. Two weeks where Beca wore a bona-fide Santa hat to rehearsals. Two weeks before the rest of the Bellas ambushed her, begging her to find out was going on.

And that's how she found herself here, creeping up the stairs to the third floor, wondering how the hell she was supposed to broach the subject with her best friend.

" _Hey Bec? You just seem really happy lately and like really into the Christmas spirit; and well, we're all kind of worried about you because usually the holidays turn you into a grump-ass."_

Ummm, no.

She wounded the corner of the stairs to find Beca at her desk in full on mixing mode. As soon as she caught sight of Chloe though, she pulled off her headphones and motioned the older girl over.

"Hey, Red! What's up?"

She could feel her eyes narrow as she raised a hip to lean on the desk.

"You seem . . . cheery." She observed.

Beca shrugged.

"Just making christmas mixes!"

She glanced at the screen to see 'Baby It's Cold Outside' and 'Merry Christmas Baby' pulled up side by side.

"Yeah. . . . about that."

"Peppermint stick?" Beca interrupted, holding up a jar full of the red and white candy.

"Ummm, sure; yeah thanks." She took one of the sticks and crunched off the end.

"So," Beca slurped around the candy hanging out the corner of her mouth. "What's up, Beale?"

"Well, I - the girls . . . and I were just . . . concerned about your recent ummmmm, christmas spirit."

"What, can't a girl be jolly without everyone freaking out?"

"No! I wasn't saying-! I mean we're happy that you're happy, Becs- it's just usually you're kind of -"

"A grinch?"

"I mean I wasn't going to say it, but yeah. Just checking to make sure you're doing okay."

Beca turned her chair to the side, and for a moment Chloe was afraid that she had crossed the ever-moving line of "how far can I push Beca before I push her away", until the DJ turned back to her flash drive extended in one hand.

"Before I forget, these are the Christmas mixes I'm already done with."

Chloe took it gratefully.

"Thanks, you know I love Christmas music."

"I do." she watched as Beca nibbled the peppermint stick thoughtfully before continuing. "And you should know that I haven't always been a grinch. I used to love Christmas, it was the best."

"Really?" She asked, only it came out slurred thanks to the candy her mouth.

Beca's eyes took on a wistful look.

"Christmas was the best. The whole month of December mom and dad would put aside whatever petty argument they had been fighting about and go all out for Christmas. The tree, the lights, the annual Mitchell Christmas party. . . no fighting, no underhanded comments - it was perfect. The day after Christmas, that was a different story, but from the day before Thanksgiving all the way up to Christmas day things were perfect. It was almost like we were a normal family."

She paused and Chloe let her have the moment.

"But then, after the divorce, Christmas . . . sucked." Beca's laugh was humorless. "There was always the talk of 'who's Beca going to spend Christmas with this year' - like I wasn't event there. Like I wasn't a kid who just wanted her family to be together on Christmas, like I was nothing more than a bargaining chip in their petty war." She watched as lips tugged upward to reveal perfect white teeth.

"And then my first year at Barden I was just angry - about being here instead of LA, at Aubrey, everything - that I didn't want to enjoy Christmas. Once we moved into the house, all of you guys would talk about how you all couldn't wait to go home to your families for the holidays and I just felt left out. And if you haven't learned by now, I'm one of those people that would rather seclude myself than feel left out." Beca shrugged.

"And I always forced you to come down and celebrate." she finished guiltily.

"No! No! That's not-! You always made me feel better, Chlo. I wasn't saying that."

She smiled, relieved. "Well, what's different this year?"

"You said you're staying in town this year because your parents are going on a cruise, and I thought I would stay here and celebrate with you. And you love Christmas, so why not go all out?"

"You're doing all this for me?"

"Well, that and Christmas is only fun and magical if you have something worth wishing for. . . maybe I've got something worth wishing for this Christmas."

Chloe raised her eyebrows expectantly.

"Are you going to tell me what it is?"

"Eventually, but right now you should go tell the girls that they don't need to worry about me, I'm fine. Just happy to be spending Christmas with my best friend."

"Ditto, Becs."

Fat Amy's voice calling up the stairs interrupted any semblance of a moment they might have been having.

"I thought I was your best friend, short stack?!"

Beca leaned around the railing, winking a Chloe before shouting down the stairs.

"Chloe's my American best friend, Amy - you're my international best friend."

Chloe spent Christmas Eve creating a gigantic gingerbread house. The rest of the Bellas had left for their respective home towns, or in Amy's case - Bumper's home town; and Beca was at the studio; so she had the day to herself. It was a masterpiece, really; complete with a little gingerbread family and gumdrop Christmas lights. She was quite impressed with it herself, and the project took up most of her day. By the time she finished cleaning the kitchen and showering up, night had fallen and she was considering what to do for dinner when the front door slammed open.

"Ho, ho, ho!" Beca's voice rang out.

"Hey, watch who you call 'ho', ho!"

Beca dropped a bag of takeout on the counter and pulled off her scarf before moving to the ginger bread house.

"Holy gingerbread, Batman! This is amazing!"

Chloe dropped a quick curtsy.

"Thank you, thank you! Is that Chinese food I smell?"

"But of course! What goes better with cheesy Christmas movies than delicious lo mein?"

"Umm, lemon chicken and fried rice?"

Beca rolled her eyes.

"It's at the bottom of the bag staying toasty. I would never subject you to the horrors of lo mein."

Before she could even think, she was bending down to plant a kiss on Beca's cheek.

"Thanks, Bec. You're the best."

The DJ froze for a stuttered second, blush rising on her cheeks.

"No prob, not like I could let you starve."

Chloe woke up the next morning in a confused haze, blinking the sleep from her eyes. She took a moment to remember the night before and grinned. She and Beca had spent the night cuddled up on the couch, making fun of ridiculous Christmas movies. Apparently, they had fallen asleep at some point, and she could feel Beca's feet tucked in warmly beside her.

It was still dark outside, and the only light was coming from the Christmas tree, the multi-colored bulbs casting a cheery glow across the takeout containers scattered across the coffee table.

"Becs! Becs!" She jiggled the younger girl's legs to wake her. "It's Christmas!"

The DJ grunted, reaching for her iPhone.

"It's also . . . five o'clock in the morning."

"Doesn't matter! It's still Christmas! So it's time to open presents!"

"Seriously, Chlo?"

"Becs . . . . " She turned on her best pout. "Please?"

Beca sighed, throwing back the covers.

"Fine, but I'm brushing my teeth first. I can still taste last night's Chinese food."

"Good idea! besides, I need a fresh palate for egg nog."

"Egg nog, really?"

"You can't open presents without egg nog, Bec."

"Whatever you say, Red."

She brushed her teeth and washed her face, before practically running back down the stairs, tossing the takeout containers in the trash and pouring up some (alcohol free) egg nog. No sooner had she sat down than Beca was sliding across the floor to the tree, skidding to a stop beside Chloe. She was fully decked out in a santa hat, red nose and fuzzy snowman socks; and Chloe grinned.

"You are seriously going all out this year huh?"

"Hell yeah, I have to see if Santa brought me what I wanted."

"You still haven't told me what you were wishing for!"

Beca waved a finger.

"Nope, can't tell you or it won't come true!"

"I don't think that counts for Christmas, Becs."

"Uhh, who died and made you Santa? This isn't the Santa Clause!"

"Fine, fine, don't tell me. Now open a present!"

They opened the presents from their parents first, taking plenty of pictures to send to the families.

Next Beca opened the present from Chloe, oohing and aahing over the concert tickets.

"I assume the second ticket is for you?"

"I mean you could always take your international best friend, but I don't think she loves The Weeknd as much as me."

"I'm pretty sure she would try to flash him her boobs or something, so trust me, I'm taking you!"

"Awes! I was hoping you might say that!"

The younger pulled a small present into her lap.

"Here's your present, I hope you like it!"

Beca handed her the beautifully wrapped package, and she opened the box to reveal a certificate for art lessons.

"Seriously?" She squealed. "How did you?"

"Please, you've been talking about wanting to learn how to draw since I first met you!"

"Thanks, Bec; you're the best!"

The DJ shrugged before reaching behind the tree.

"There's one more little thing actually. . ."

She seemed nervous as she passed the small package over. Chloe pulled the paper off to reveal a sprig of mistletoe and she stared at Beca confusedly.

"What . . .?"

"You have to hold it up at the light."

Beca demonstrated with one hand above her head and Chloe followed suit, staring up at the small branch.

"I don't see-"

She was cut off by Beca's lips on her own.

Oh.

Oh.

That little sneak -

Any coherent thought was scattered from her brain as Beca's cold fingers curled on her cheeks; and she sighed into the kiss, hands reaching up to wrap around the DJ's waist.

Only she forgot, exactly, what position they were in and they tumbled backwards to the floor.

"Well," Beca said as they pulled apart laughing. "That went better than expected."

"I'll say."

She flipped them so that she was propped up over the younger girl.

"How long have you felt this way?"

"I dunno, sometime around you barging naked into my shower?"

Chloe giggled.

"Was this your Christmas wish?"

Beca looked down to where there bodies were pressed together.

"I mean my wish just went as far as the kiss, but this is . . . good, this is good!"

Chloe laughed again before lowering herself to brush their lips together.

"Merry Christmas, Bec."

"Merry Christmas, Chlo."


	5. Chapter 5

**Tumblr Prompt:**

 **Anonymous- Jesse and Beca star in a reality show about the difficulties of long distance relationships (him in New York and her in LA) and Chloe is a crew member on the show that Beca can't help but notice her growing attraction for.**

"Alright, so let's set the fridge camera right up front by the light."

Beca watched from the kitchen counter as a crew of TV videographers crowded around her refrigerator. She munched a Dorito.

"Perfect! But, just angle it downward a little bit; yeah, yeah! like that! Alright, let's get Beca in here for a test." The group parted to reveal a pretty redheaded woman in the center (Chloe, Beca reminded herself - she was determined to learn every last one of their names), gesturing for Beca to come forward. "Beca? Do you mind coming over here? We need to do a camera test."

Beca dusted the cheese dust off her fingers and stepped forward, preparing herself for what felt like the hundredth camera test of the day. She allowed Chloe to pull her closer than she normally would have allowed, the redhead tugging her into position.

"Alright, so just reach in and grab something like you normally would."

Beca waited until they were all focused on the iPad that was tuned into the fridge camera before reaching in for a bottle of water.

"Ooh!" The crowd of camera geeks collectively groaned.

"What?" She forced herself not to roll her eyes, and reminded herself once again that she had agreed to this.

"You reached in with your left hand." One of the guys -Bob, or was it Frank?- complained.

"Because I'm left handed."

"Right." Bob/Frank continued, "But is there anyway you could use your right hand?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I'm left handed." She gritted out. Now these idiots were trying to tell her how to grab things?! Why did she ever agree to this?

"The shot would be so much better if you just - "

"Jake." The redhead interrupted the man whose name was obviously not Frank OR Bob. "It's fine, we can just move the camera to the other side. Same shot and no having to remember to use the other hand."

Jake grumbled but complied, reaching in to move the camera as Chloe turned to drop a wink in Beca's direction. Maybe this reality show wasn't such a horrible idea after all.

Two Weeks Earlier -

"Jesse, I think we need to talk." It had taken her two shots, but she finally had enough liquid courage in her system. Jesse had told her a month ago that he was moving to New York to be the musical director for an up and coming Broadway show and she had been trying for a month longer than that to break up with him. It wasn't that she didn't love him, but it was really just more as a friend. Any spark of romance they had had died off long ago and she really wished that he could see it too. Unfortunately, he was apparently still head over heels for her, refusing to acknowledge that anything was wrong, despite their constant bickering.

It wasn't that Beca was avoiding breaking up with him, she had tried on numerous occasions; only he always surprised her with something that made it near impossible for her to do so without feeling like a complete ass. The first time it had been a trip to her favorite restaurant, the second time it was their anniversary, and the third time it had been his announcement that he was moving to New York.

But now, now she was convinced that nothing was going to stop her from 'The Talk'.

"Actually Becs, I have something I need to talk to you about first."

Only now, as he turned those big, brown, puppy-dog eyes on her; she wasn't so sure.

"Sure, Jess, what is it?"

"Reality show."

"Excuse me?"

"We should do a reality show."

"Right, well I'm a little too short for America's Next Top Model, and I don't think they let you on The Voice if you already have a Grammy."

"No." He waved a hand dismissively. "Not like that! Like the Kardashians!"

"Well I hate to keep poking holes in your plans, but I'm not a Kardashian."

He sighed, obviously frustrated.

"You know how Nick and Jessica had that show Newlyweds? It would be like that only about us - we could call it Long Distance."

He looked so hopeful, and she wasn't like - a monster.

"Sure, yeah, a reality show."

Which is exactly how she ended up here.

With a dozen cameras planted around her house and a crew of wannabe hollywood movie makers following her around.

It was't without it's perks, she had gotten 200 more twitter followers since the show had been announced, and the studio was already starting to push extra tour dates.

But she was a very private person, extremely private if you got down to it; and she just didn't get enjoyment out of people following her everywhere but the bathroom (not that they didn't try).

The only good part of the whole deal was Chloe, with her flaming red hair and her bright smile and her bubbling personality.

Yep, Beca would pretty much agree to cameras following her around for the rest of her life if it meant she got to see Chloe everyday.

But it wasn't like she could do anything about her little crush.

She was still with Jesse, and out of all of the horrible things she could call herself, she was not a cheater.

A. She was probably not going to be breaking up with Jesse anytime soon because even over Skype, his baby cheeks held a power over her she couldn't deny.

B. Even if she did get the courage to break up with him, all of their conversations were recorded now and she was not ready to be the bitch who broke up with her boyfriend on TV

She wasn't even a hundred percent certain she was gay, so like, ya know, why risk it?

She was totally gay and just the thought of asking Chloe out made her palms sweat and her heart race and how could she ever get past that?

She was probably going to end up marrying Jesse and having little Swanson babies re: #1

So she suffered in silence as the months went by, pining after the redheaded director and building their friendship during the rare moments off camera. Mondays were their agreed upon 'no camera' day, as well as anytime that Beca was in the studio; so she and Chloe would usually grab lunch, or she would invite Chloe to come hang out at the studio 'off the record'. They would talk, about anything and everything; and Beca swore she had never laughed so much in her life. Chloe was slowly picking away at Beca's tough outer shell and she felt a connection to the redhead that she had never felt with anyone. She didn't know how much longer she would be able to keep this up.

It wasn't a bad gig. Ratings were good, and they had both sky-rocketed in popularity since the premiere. But she was getting frustrated. Jesse's Broadway show had been doing excellently and the run had been extended at least a year, possibly indefinitely. She had no desire to move to New York, and there was no way that she could ask him to give up Broadway. And as she watched Chloe laugh at something she had said, cheeks reddened and blue eyes lighting up with mirth, she knew she had to do something.

So in pure Beca fashion, she snuck away from her camera crew in the middle of the night and took a red-eye New York, hailing a cab to Jesse's apartment as soon as they were wheels down.

They locked themselves in the bathroom to avoid the camera crew, and he was surprisingly understanding as she explained how she felt - so much that she wondered why she hadn't done it earlier. But you'd have to be blind to see that they just weren't working out - or at least a cable watcher aged 18-25; so he sent her off in a cab with a kiss on the cheek and something about how the show must go on.

She had the whole plane ride back to LA to sleep, only she didn't; she spent the entire flight going over every possible scenario with Chloe in her head. According to her sleep-deprived calculations, she had a one in a million chance of Chloe agreeing to go out with her, but she was in too deep now, there was no turning back.

She meant to go home to change and shower before heading to the redhead's apartment; but to her surprise, Chloe and the rest of the crew was waiting at her apartment.

Chloe jumped up from her spot on the couch to wrap Beca in a hug.

"Becs, where have you been? I've been worried sick!" Her hands rubbed soothing circles on Beca's back and she found herself sinking into the embrace until she saw the red blinking light of a recording camera over Chloe's shoulder.

"Can we talk somewhere? Without the cameras?"

Chloe froze momentarily before nodding.

"Hey guys, take five, ok?"

"That's not the deal-"

"Take five." Her voice was firm, and the others complied, setting their cameras down as Chloe pulled Beca towards the spare bedroom.

"What's up?" the question was out of her mouth as soon as the door was closed, her blue eyes filled with concern.

"I broke up with Jesse."

"What?"

"Let me finish." Beca held up her hand. She had to get this out, it was now or never.

"That's where I was; I took a flight out to New York, and I broke up with Jesse."

"You broke up with Jesse? Why?"

"You watch the show, hell you film half of it; there's nothing there. There hasn't been for a long time, I was just too chicken shit to do anything about it."

"What changed?"

Beca allowed a smirk to drift across her features, and she took Chloe's hands in her own.

"Well, there's this cute redhead that I just can't stop thinking about and I really hope she'll go out with me."

"You know the network is going to cancel your show."

"Does that mean that we won't have any cameras following us on our first date?"

Chloe giggled.

"No cameras."

"Good, I'm kinda tired of those things."


	6. Chapter 6

**Tumblr prompt:**

 **OOH how about a promt with Chloe being to scared to kiss Beca so when she faints due to heat (or something) Beca thinks she can't breathe and gives her mouth to mouth. Chloe actually came to just before Beca becomes being hero-Beca but decides to roll with it cause...well you know, kissage. So they end up kissing for reals. Pretty pleases**

It was that time of year, when Barden University's finest a Capella groups' competed in the annual Bellas vs Trebles fall blood drive. There was a huge blood donation van parked in the quad with booths from both a Capella teams set up out front, and students and faculty from all over campus came to donate blood, pledging to either the Bellas or the Trebles, receiving a complimentary t-shirt from the chosen group when they were done. It was a great way to increase donations for the local blood bank, and it was a fun competition to see which group could solicit the most donors.

The Trebles had won every year since the competition's conception, and judging from the smack talk that the were currently throwing down; they were expecting to win this year too. Only, the Bellas were high off their ICCA win the previous spring and their popularity on campus was through the roof. Not counting the Bellas themselves -who had donated first thing that morning, they had already racked up over a hundred donations, well over the Trebles measly sixty-five.

They hadn't quite anticipated their success though and were quickly running out of t-shirts to hand out. Luckily, the ever-prepared Jessica had ordered extra, they were just all back at the Bellas' house.

"Come on, Bec!" Chloe's voice and subsequent shoulder shake knocked her out of midday stupor. "We're going to go get the other shirts."

"Why do WE have to go get them? We're not the ones who insisted that this would be enough because 'Carrying more sounds like exercise.'" She gestured towards Fat Amy who managed to look offended.

"Becs, come on; just walk with me?"

"Fine!" She rolled her eyes half-heartedly before following the redhead across the quad.

It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and the leaves on the trees were right in the middle of changing colors. When you threw in the fact that they were beating the Trebles, it was pretty much a perfect day - minus the little matter of Chloe.

Ever since she and Jesse had decided not to take their victory kiss at Nationals any further, Beca had been trying to work up the guts to tell Chloe how she felt. Simple in theory, but much harder in practice. Especially since Beca had never asked anyone out, much less the prettiest girl at Barden University. She had felt wrong about how happy she was that Chloe was back for a second senior year, but she couldn't deny her joy at being able to spend another year with her favorite redhead.

"Alright, I'm going upstairs to get the shirts; you fix us a sandwich."

A knowing grin spread slowly across Beca's face as realization dawned.

"I see why you wanted me to come with you! You wanted to capitalize on my world-class sandwich making skills!"

"I can't help it if you make the best Turkey club on campus, okay? It's past lunchtime and I'm seriously starting to feel light headed, I think it's the blood loss."

She would have caved anyway but Chloe's pout certainly didn't hurt.

"Anything for you, wouldn't want you to collapse, I can see the headlines in the school paper now - 'Barden Bellas' Co-captain Collapses at Blood Drive'."

"Thanks for preserving my dignity." Chloe said dryly before moving up the stairs.

Beca scrounged around for ingredients, piling turkey, lettuce, cheese, and mustard on bread. She was just starting to slice the tomato when she heard a loud thump upstairs. She froze.

"Chloe?"

Silence.

"Chlo?"

She set the knife down and jogged up the stairs to find the redhead, mind racing with worry.

"Chlo?"

She skidded around the corner to Jessica and Ashley's bedroom to find Chloe out cold on the floor, face white as a ghost.

"Shit."

She had been joking about Chloe collapsing, she hadn't expected her to actually do it.

She tried to remember what exactly she was supposed to do in this situation. She had taken a first aid class as an elective last semester, but she'd be lying if she said she paid great attention.

"A-B-C, right?" she muttered to herself. "That sounds right. A, A, A, A. What is A? . . . . Airway!" She knelt down to open the redhead's mouth, using the flashlight on her phone to make sure there wasn't anything lodged in the older girl's throat.

"B. . . Breathing! Is she breathing?" She watched Chloe's chest for the tell-tale rise.

"Was that a breath? I don't think that was a breath! Shit! Shit! Shit! How do I do this? Uhhhhh."

She hesitated, desperately trying to remember the steps for mouth to mouth before it came to her. She carefully tilted the redhead's chin back and clamped the other girl's nose with her fingers before sealing their lips.

She gave a slow breath and counted to five.

Again.

Again.

But then Chloe's mouth was closing and soft lips were pressing into her own as a tongue swept her lips.

She jumped back.

"Jesus!"

"Nope, just Chloe. And if you wanted to kiss me, you didn't have to wait until I was passed out, Becs."

"I didn't - I wasn't- You were- I was giving you mouth to mouth!" She finished weakly.

"You really didn't pay attention during health class, did you?" Chloe teased from the floor, color already starting to return to her cheeks.

"No? Not really."

"Well, you haven't paid attention to my year and a half of flirting either, judging by the fact that I had to collapse to get any action."

"Flirting?"

"Yes, that whole thing in the shower? That was flirting. And this?" She gestured to her present state. "This needs food and to sit down, not mouth to mouth. Although I appreciate your valiant effort." She winked and Beca blushed.

"Right, food. You stay here, I'll go grab the sandwiches."

"Thanks."

She scrambled to get up and out the door only to pause in the hallway and come back in.

"Chlo?"

"Yeah?"

"Maybe, sometime when you're not, ya know- almost dying, we could try the kissing thing again? And I could, like, buy you dinner first?"

"Beca Mitchell, are you asking me out on a date?"

She scratched the back of her neck self-consciously. "Yes? If that's like- if you're cool with that?"

She didn't think she had ever seen Chloe smile that big.

"Yes, definitely." She held up a hand. "But you have to promise to take a CPR class and actually pay attention this time, that kind of thing is important to know."

"Deal."


	7. Chapter 7

**Prompt for the Bellas to sing the National Anthem at a monster truck rally**

"This is so not what I expected when you said we were going to be singing the national anthem at a rally." Beca gestured around the outdoor stadium at the mass of people.

"Yeah, Amy I was expecting a political rally, not a monster truck rally." Chloe added.

Amy shrugged and Stacie rolled her eyes.

"Wait, you knew exactly what this was, didn't you?!"

"It's not like we've been getting a lot of gig offers since the incident! I figured that you guys wouldn't agree if you knew what it really was!"

"Hey, Chlo - " Beca turned to her co-captain conversationally. "Why is it that no one wants to pay us to sing at events?" without waiting for a response, she whirled to face Amy. "Oh, that's right because somebody decided that they didn't want to wear underwear the day we performed for the President!"

"I said I'm sorry! I feel bad enough! Besides, I thought this would be a good way for us to have fun."

"I don't care where we sing, as long as we're getting paid." Cynthia Rose piped up.

Amy's began to look incredibly guilty and realization dawned on Beca.

"We aren't even getting paid! Are we?!"

The Australian was saved a response by a voice booming over the loudspeaker.

"Ladies and Gentleman, please rise for the singing of our National Anthem."

They managed to make through the whole song without anyone showing anything inappropriate and after the last note rang out they were ushered off to the side by a woman in a bright yellow vest and red hair that was so unnatural it obviously came out of a box.

"I just want to thank ya'll so much for comin' out and singing for us. Ya'll all did such a nice job, it's not often we get the national a Capella champions to come all the way out to Creeksville to sing for us."

Beca bit back a grimace. "Right, well we better be heading back to Barden, it's a long drive. You guys have a nice . . . show."

"Oh! Ya'll can't leave yet! You have to stay! That was a part of the deal I set up with Fat Amanda!"

She cut in before Amy could correct the woman.

"It was?"

"Ya'll sing and we give you free tickets to the show! We also included free concessions! And your gear!"

"Gear?"

The woman pulled out a box and began distributing trucker hats and t-shirts with monster truck decals on them.

"Right, thanks . . ." Beca held up the 2XL shirt in front of her.

"Well go on, put 'em on! you can't attend a monster truck rally dressed in those fancy duds."

Beca started to protest but Amy's hand on her arm stopped her.

"Can we have a minute?" the blonde asked.

"Sure, sweetie! I'm gonna go right over here and check this gate."

She walked away and Amy pulled the Bellas around her.

"Guys, I feel like morale has been really low lately. We could really use something to bring our spirits up; and what brings people together more than a bunch of rednecks in big trucks acting like idiots? And you may have missed it, but we get free concessions!"

Beca looked at Chloe, having what the girls liked to call a 'captain's conversation' with their eyes.

"Please? I'll do the dishes for a week. I'll even do cardio without complaining for a week!"

Chloe broke the stare and narrowed her eyes in Amy's direction.

"Cardio for a month."

"Fine, a month."

"And you have to be the designated driver tonight because I don't think any of us can make it through this night without alcohol."

Amy shrugged.

"Cotton candy doesn't have alcohol in it!"

Chloe held out a hand to shake on it, leaving Beca with her mouth gaping.

"Chlo!"

"What? We're here anyway, and what else is going to get Amy to do cardio for a month?"

Beca rolled her eyes but waved the event coordinator back over. The woman showed them to their seats and pointed out the bathrooms, exits, and concessions before turning to Chloe.

"What brand is your hair color?"

"This is my natural color."

Beca tried not to laugh at Chloe's sudden indignation.

"Really?"

Chloe nodded.

"Huh. Well, it's very pretty!" And just like that the woman was gone, weaving her way through the bleachers.

"She was. . . interesting." Chloe noted.

"Admit it, you kind of wanted to throttle her for asking where you got your hair color." Beca grinned and pulled the monster truck t-shirt over her head.

"Does this look like it comes out of a bottle to you?"

"No, it looks gorgeous." Beca winked, settling the trucker cap over her hair and tilting it slightly to the side. "I'm going to go get us some nachos, do you want anything?"

"I'll take a beer."

"Got it, I'll be back!" She made her way down to the booth set up behind the stadium advertising all sorts of fair foods - fried Oreos, nachos, hot dogs, and half a dozen other items that sounded like they contained a years worth of cholesterol in each bite.

Fat Amy was in line ahead of her, and judging from the size of the box that the workers were filling with various foods, she was in the process of ordering one of everything on the menu.

"Gator on a stick, is that real alligator or imitation alligator?"

"Oh, that's real gator! Raised it myself!"

"One of those then, and a large sweat tea."

Amy finished up her transaction and took her loot, making way for Beca.

"I'll have two Bud Lights and an order of nachos."

"Bud Light?" The man behind the register cackled, grimy teeth splitting an even grimier beard. "What does this look like? A fancy restaurant? We got PBR or moonshine, take your pick."

"Moonshine?"

"Billy's got a still out behind his barn."

"Right, two Pabst Blue Ribbon then. And nachos."

"You want fried squirrel chunks on those nachos?"

Beca felt her stomach roll - Amy was so going to pay for this.

"Just - just cheese is fine."

She made her way back to the Bellas' row, juggling the beers and her squirrel free nachos, only to find a girl wearing a cowboy hat sitting in her seat on the end next to Chloe.

"And that's when the horse just plum ran away!"

Chloe laughed as the girl finished telling whatever anecdote she was in the midst of, and Beca stood beside them; clearing her throat awkwardly.

"Ahem. That's my seat."

The cowgirl looked up at her.

"Didn't know this seat was taken."

"Well, it is." She didn't move and Beca drew herself to her full 5'2". "By me. So, you know, if you could just be on your way."

"I'll be over there if you need me, sweetheart." The stranger winked at Chloe before climbing further up the bleachers to her friends.

"What a dick." The DJ muttered, passing Chloe her beer and taking her seat.

"She was just being friendly!"

"Umm, no she was flirting."

"I really don't think you know how flirting works, Bec."

"She called you sweetheart."

"That's what people say in the South."

"I'll let it slide, but if she comes over tho flirt with you again, I will fight a bitch!"

"Oh my gosh! You're jealous!"

Beca could feel her cheeks redden.

"I'm not jealous! Why would I be jealous about a tall lanky cowgirl talking to my girlfriend?"

"That's adorable!" Chloe squealed.

"That's not - no. I'm a badass." Beca insisted, realizing that she probably didn't look like a badass, with her too big t-shirt hanging to her knees and ridiculous hat that spelled 'vrrrooom' across the top. In fact, she probably looked a lot like Chloe, who was in the exact same state of dress. And Chloe looked, well, adorable. so instead of pushing to subject, she changed gears.

"If Amy offers you a bite of anything on a stick, just say 'no'."

"Why, what is it?"

"You don't wanna know."

Luckily she was saved from anymore questions as the sound of monster truck engines filled the arena.

The whole thing was kind of interesting, and Beca really got into it; especially after she and Chloe picked different trucks to root for. She could certainly understand how, as far as sports go, it was pretty fun to watch. Just as the last truck was about to go though, the stadium lights flickered out, plunging them into darkness. The fans roared their displeasure as the sound of the trucks died down to a low idle.

Beca felt Chloe's hand grip tighter around hers and suddenly the redhead's breath was on her ear.

"Shame the power's out; just before I won our bet, too. But I'm sure we can find something else to occupy us."

"You were not going to-"

That's all she got out before Chloe's lips were on hers, tugging and pulling, drawing her into warmth that was Chloe Beale. She shivered. Usually she wasn't much for PDA, but the lights were out, so it wasn't like anyone could see them anyway. So instead of pulling back, she leaned in; one hand tangling in soft red curls and the other twisting in the shirt at Chloe's back. She could hear the crowd around them, muttering their displeasure at the delay, but she tuned it out; focusing instead on the smell of lavender floating down from Chloe's hair.

All too soon, she saw the lights shining through her eyelids and she pulled back from the kiss to hear a man shouting drunkenly.

"They're lesbians! Kick 'em outta here!"

She turned towards the sound of the voice just in time to see the cowgirl lesbian from before raring back a fist.

"Shut up, Harold!" And she punched him square in the jaw, hard enough that he slumped over in his seat.

Beca didn't know what she was expecting after that. A mass mob of fighting perhaps, a few more homosexual slurs thrown in their direction. She certainly didn't expect the crowd to erupt in a cheer.

"Way to go, Gretchen!"

"Yeah, show that jerk who's boss!"

Out of all the towns to be supportive of her lesbian relationship, she definitely hadn't expected it to be the one that sold gator on a stick.

By the time the show was over and half the stadium had apologized for Harold's behavior, it was almost midnight. Amy was still high off of her sugar kick, and Beca found herself grateful that Chloe had talked the Australian into driving home.

"You know," She started as she took her seat next to Chloe on the bus. "That was actually pretty fun, I think I might by a monster truck one day. You know, when I have disposable income that I don't know what to do with."

"You are not buying a monster truck." Chloe firmly stated.

"Why not?"

"Because where would you put it, Becs?"

"I don't know, wherever people store their monster trucks when they aren't driving them."

"No."

"But-" Beca began, stopping as soon as she saw the look Chloe was leveling in her direction. "Fine. No monster truck."

Amy's eyes met hers in the rearview mirror. "You're so whipped."

"Would you just drive? Before one of the many disgusting things that you ate tonight decides that it doesn't agree with you."

"Aye, aye, cap'n!"


	8. Chapter 8

**Based off of this prompt: post/137339049849/cookiexmilk-i-love-those-otps-that-are-like**

Beca was late for class, again. It's not that she was late on purpose, she just got caught up in other things.

More important things.

"What, pray tell, is more important than your education, Ms. Mitchell?" Dr. Holt would say condescendingly as he glared at her from behind his desk. So she wouldn't say the words "more important", not to him. Instead, she would mumble something about losing track of time working on a project.

Which, in a manner of speaking, was true.

It wasn't a school project, not yet; she hadn't found a way to incorporate it into any of her classes. But she was sure that it was important- more important than the adjectives and adverbs and dangling prepositions that Dr. Holt droned on about in her Comp I class. Beca communicated better in the language of half notes and Treble clefs- which is exactly why she was running late.

She was currently obsessed with the idea that all music is related and that if you tried hard enough, if you melded the beats just right, then you could make a gigantic mix tape. She wasn't a hundred percent sure that it would work, but she had spent a few dozen sleepless nights working on it. Unfortunately, it was more suited to a graduate level thesis for musical theory than Comp I; and she was certain that none of her current freshman pre-requisite teachers would be impressed - especially not Dr. Holt.

So she was running across campus- entirely too fast for her level of coordination - when she stumbled right into the prettiest girl she had ever seen.

Her vision was a blur of red hair and blue eyes, and the scent of peppermint surrounded her. Hands on her shoulders steadied her and heavenly voice exclaimed in her ear.

"Oh my gosh! Are you ok?"

"Yeah, yeah . . ." She pushed her glasses back up on her face, gulping as she made eye contact with the redheaded stranger. "I'm fine. Did I hurt you? Running isn't really my strong suit."

"No, you barely tapped me! And I kind of guessed about the running part."

"Right." Beca felt her face heating under the beautiful stranger's gaze. "I have to get to class, actually . . . umm."

"Class?"

"Comp I, Dr. Holt." she offered.

"Well, it's 10:30, so you're either really early for an 11 o'clock class or really late for a 10 o'clock."

"Really late, unfortunately."

"Want a tip?" Without even pausing to see if Beca did indeed want said tip, she continued. "He takes attendance at the beginning but he doesn't really keep track. If you come in late though it sears on his brain and he adds you to his grudge list. So unless you're just really into discussing verb tenses, you'd be better off just skipping."

"Are you encouraging me to skip class?" She smirked.

"If skipping also includes grabbing brunch with the cute redhead that you barreled into on your way to said class, then yes."

"Did you just refer to yourself as 'the cute redhead'?"

"I'm pretty confident about . . . all this." the stranger shimmied her hips and winked leaving Beca with a dry mouth.

"You should be." She managed, and the redhead grabbed her hand, tugging her along.

"Come on, it's not everyday that I get to introduce freshman to the wonderful place that is Gina's Deli!"

Beca swept an arm across her desk, successfully pushing the mound of hot pocket sleeves and gummy worm packages into the trash. She quickly scanned the rest of the dorm as she shoved dirty clothes into the closet. Satisfied that her room was at least presentable, she sprayed a mist of febreeze behind her as she walked back to the door.

Chloe, (she had finally learned the girl's name around the time the omelettes had arrived), was standing on the other side, appearing to carefully study the door frame. Her eyes lit up when she saw Beca.

"Come in! I just had to . . . um - my roommate is really messy."

"Of course!" Chloe's smile was blinding.

"Soo, this is where the magic happens!" She did a Vanna White hand gesture around her room before her previous words registered. "I mean -not that kind of magic, like, musical magic."

Her cheeks heated once again, but if Chloe was turned away by her idiotic blundering, she didn't show it. Instead, she was hovering over the keyboard tucked in the corner.

"Do you play?"

Beca brushed the hair back from her eyes.

"Some. Mostly I use it for beats."

"May I?" Chloe's fingers ghosted over the keys.

"Sure, knock yourself out!"

If it sounded this good on a crappy keyboard in a acoustically sub-par dorm room, she could only imagine what Chloe's playing would sound like on a grand piano in a concert hall.

"Wow." She breathed as the last note rang out. "You didn't tell me you were a piano virtuosa!"

"Oh, no." The redhead waved a hand flippantly. "Violin is more my thing."

"You play violin too?"

"And guitar, and the ukulele - cello, but that's not my favorite. Also, the clarinet, the recorder, the saxophone, the flute."

"You play all of those?!"

"Oh, and the french horn! But that's a story for another time, if I remember, I was promised some 'mad beats'."

Beca picked her jaw up off the floor as Chloe took as seat at the edge of her bed.

"I dunno, dude - I feel so. . . inadequate now!"

"Something tells me you're definitely more than adequate."

There was that wink again, the one that turned Beca's lower extremities into mush.

"Anyway . . ." She drew out the last syllable as she sat at her desk and cracked open her laptop. "I have this theory that all the songs ever composed could somehow fit together if you mixed them just right. Of course, it's nearly impossible to test because to include a large enough sample from each song to be able to differentiate each one as separate would cause the mix to last for, well, years. So instead I'm testing it on a sample of fifty songs from all different genres."

She passed Chloe her headphones and pushed play, watching the older girl's face as she listened to the music.

"This sounds pretty awesome!" Chloe finally shouted over the headphones. "You should totes join our band!"

Beca waited until the song was over and the headphones were off before she responded.

"Band? Maybe you missed the part where I don't actually play an instrument."

"You could arrange new sets for us! We've been doing the same old cover songs for two years, and honestly people are getting tired of hearing them! You would liven us up!"

Beca thought about it. It went against her 'get in, get, don't look anybody in the eyes' plan for college. But then again . . .

"Ok, I'll do it. But only if you grab coffee with me sometime."

Chloe's smile got impossibly brighter.

"Deal."


	9. Chapter 9

**Prompt from Pounkcakereal 20- Chloe gets really jealous because she thinks the girl that she is talking to is trying to come on to her. In actuality Beca is talking to her cousin. Or someone who is a relative that Chloe has never met.**

This is could be taken as a post Tell the World one shot, or you can take it as a stand alone, either way!

"She's smiling, Aubrey, smiling!" Chloe gritted her teeth, hoping her annoyance was conveyed across their iPhone connection.

"Smiling?! You better get your wife to a hospital because she is obviously having a mental breakdown."

Chloe slid down in her chair, hiding behind the latest issue of People as she stared through the glass windows of Beca's main office.

"Bree, I'm serious."

She heard the blonde sigh.

"Just because she's smiling doesn't mean she's cheating on you."

"She's smiling at another girl."

"Chlo. Seriously."

"She's a broody people hater, why is she smiling while talking to some rando?"

"It's probably a new client, she has to kiss a lot of ass around those divas, I'm sure she's just being nice."

"She's grinning! I see teeth!"

"She smiles around the Bellas all the time!"

"Yeah, the Bellas! Who she's known for years!"

"Who you've known for years, you mean." Aubrey pointed out.

"She smiles when she's with Jesse and I don't have a problem with that."

"Yeah but Jesse is a known evil. And a married man, by the way. You don't know this girl and it's freaking you out. Admit it."

"Yes, ok? I'm freaking out because she's getting cozy with some girl I don't recognize."

"Define 'getting cozy', because I feel like that's pretty vague."

"Well . . . her arms aren't crossed."

"I feel like this is backwards, usually you're the one that's trying to convince me that your wife isn't a moody bitch."

"I never said she was a moody bitch, I just mentioned that she isn't as stand-offish as she usually is when it comes to other human beings."

Another sigh.

"Chlo, I really think you're over reacting. Beca is a lot of things, but a cheater she is not. I think you -"

"Hugging!" Chloe shrieked as loudly as she could without making a scene in the quiet waiting room. "They're hugging!"

Beca had a strict 'no touching' policy with people she had known less than a year and usually the ban continued much longer than that.

"That's . . . weird" Aubrey agreed, "But I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for it. You need - "

"Here she comes, here she comes! Gotta go!" She clicked 'end call' as Aubrey's voice yelled - "Text me!"

She slipped the phone into her purse and directed her attention down to her magazine. It took everything she had not to look up as she heard the door to Beca's office open.

"Bye, Lacy! I'm so glad you stopped by! I'll text you later and we'll work out the details for dinner next week!"

"Catch you later, Becs!"

Becs? Chloe felt her skin crawl at the familiarity but she tried to keep a neutral expression as Beca rounded the corner.

"Hey babe! I didn't know you were here already!"

She glanced up at the DJ as casually as possible.

"Oh yeah, I got done a little early so I thought I'd wait for you inside."

"Awes, you ready to go? I was thinking we could hit up that little sushi place down the street."

"Sure."

"Sure?" Beca's brow furrowed as she held out a hand to help Chloe up. "Are you mad?"

"Why would I be mad?" She dropped Beca's hand as soon as she was on her feet and began marching towards the door.

"I dunno, maybe because you love sushi and I've never hear you reply to an offer for sushi with 'sure'; you don't want to hold my hand; and now you're walking way too fast for me to keep up!"

Unfortunately, the wait for the elevator allowed Beca time to catch up and she could feel the brunette staring up at her.

"Did I forget something?"

. . .

"Did I lose something?"

. . .

"It's not our anniversary."

. . .

"It's not your birthday."

. . .

"It's not my birthday."

. . .

"It's not the dog's birthday."

. . .

"What am I missing, Beale?"

"Mitchell." she corrected, the words spilling out before she stop them.

She could feel Beca's smirk.

"That's my girl."

Luckily the elevator dinged its arrival and she stepped in, leaning up against the back and crossing her arms as she watched the numbers slowly tick down. Beca's face appeared in her vision and warm hands traced the skin just under the hem of her shirt. The Dj leaned up to kiss her but she turned her head and the lips landed on her cheek instead,

"Okay." Beca stepped back. "No making out in the elevator? This must be serious."

The elevator dinged again and Chloe pushed past her wife to step into the foyer, flashing her visitors badge to the security guard at the door.

"Chlo, come on. I just want to have a nice lunch with you, so will you please tell me what's going on?"

Chloe knew she was being childish; she knew that Aubrey was right and there was probably a perfectly good explanation for what she had seen. She just needed tell Beca why she was mad and they could get on with their day.

"Who was Lacy, why was she all touchy-feely, and why are you having dinner with her next week?"

"Woah, woah, woah." Beca pulled her out of the stream of pedestrians into a nearby alley. "That's why you're mad? Lacy's my cousin."

"Why have I never heard you talk about her?"

"I do, I just always call her Lieutenant. It's this thing that started when we were kids, and now she's an actual Lieutenant so it's kind of funny. I have no idea what I'm going to do when she gets a promotion."

"Lacy is Lieutenant?" Chloe vaguely remembered the name from childhood stories.

"Yep. And I always give her a hug when I see her because a couple of years ago we thought her F-18 was shot down. Turns out she was on a different mission but it gave us a scare. Makes you realize how fragile life is and all that."

"Now I feel like an ass." She scrunched up her nose in disgust at herself.

"I should have introduced you but I didn't see you until she was already gone. And that's why I'm setting up dinner - she wants to meet you. She was on tour when we got married so she missed the whole 'families coming together from across the country to meet' shenanigans."

"Well, I would love to meet her; only can we not tell her about this whole incident?"

Beca pecked her lips before tugging her back out onto the sidewalk.

"Oh, no; we're definitely telling her, she is is gonna think this is hilarious!"


	10. Chapter 10

**Everybody knows about the time Beca got arrested, what about the time Chloe did?**

 **A/N: I love John Mayer, but I feel like after listening to Bumper talk so much about him; Amy is probably a little fed up with him.**

"Amy, I really don't think this is a good idea."

"Come on, Ginger, anything that involves this much tequila HAS to be a good idea."

"I don't think . . . I don't think that's how it works."

Chloe was sitting at the bar in the kitchen of her Beca's house, watching carefully as Fat Amy poured different ingredients into a blender.

The blonde was in town with Bumper who was going to see John Mayer in LA. She had refused to actually accompany her husband to the event though because, in her words, "if she had to see that skinny ass piece of man meat croon up on stage with his weanie guitar one more time then she was going to have to get up there and show him why she was crowned the #1 croc wrestler in Tasmania."

So instead, she was spending the day with Chloe, and after a day of shopping and sightseeing, they were getting ready to head to the club Beca was mixing at that night.

She was about to comment on the bottle of pure grain alcohol sitting on the counter when her phone began to vibrate, her girlfriend smiling and waving on the screen. She swiped the screen to answer and held to phone up so that she and Amy were both in the camera shot.

"Hey, Becs!"

"Hey, gorgeous! And Amy." Beca added, nodding her towards the blonde.

"Shortstack!"

"So, something has come up and I had to leave for the club a little early. I'm sending a limo to come pick you guys up and bring you down though."

"What happened?"

"Some guest DJ got drunk last weekend and spilled vodka all over the mixing board. They just called a little bit ago to mention that they got a new board so I have to go make sure all my settings are loaded before my set."

"You know who else is about to get drunk?!" Amy shouted entirely too close to Chloe's ear. "We are!" She tossed back a shot and passed one to Chloe.

"Right, well. Try not to give my girlfriend alcohol poisoning, Amy." She smirked and Chloe felt her heart skip a beat. "I'll see you guys at the show!"

No sooner had the connection ended than Amy was motioning at her to take the shot. "Bottoms up, Red- you can't get behind!"

Whatever the concoction was burned so badly that she was pretty sure it took the inner lining of her esophagus with it. Her phone dinged and Beca's name popped up.

 _"Careful now, Amy is going to be riding home with us in the limo and we both know you get handsy when you're drunk."_ It was followed my a winky face.

 _"Maybe I'll just have to take care of you in the DJ booth then."_ she countered, adding a smirking emoji for good measure.

 _"We might have to spend sometime in our home studio tonight."_

 _"?"_

 _"Because it's sound proof and I plan on making you scream"_

Chloe felt her mouth go dry.

"Alright, enough sexting the DJ, it's girls night and if I'm not mistaken, it's time for shot #2!"

"How did you-?!"

"Please, I lived in the same house as you two horn dogs for two years and you weren't even having sex then; I can feel sexual tension like a sixth sense."

Chloe shook her head and shot off one last text before burying her phone in her purse.

 _"I'll see you at the club, Amy is already pouring another shot so I hope you're ready for drunk Chloe"_

She didn't get to see Beca's response until the next morning.

 _"I'm always ready for drunk Chloe."_

But boy, was she wrong.

The line out the club was ridiculous. It stretched around the building and down the block; it's length rivaling a midnight showing of a blockbuster movie.

Luckily, however, having the hottest DJ in nation as your girlfriend had its perks.

Chloe led Fat Amy around the line and straight to the door, or at least, she attempted to.

It was kind of hard in the heels she was wearing.

And with the fact that the ground kept moving under her feet.

It would definitely be easier if the world wasn't twisting and spinning in front of her.

So she had had a little bit to drink.

She couldn't be sure exactly how much because Amy had been in charge of shots.

But Chloe Beale could handle her liquor.

It was a gift, just like her majestic soprano and her fiery hair.

It usually carried over to the next day too, and Beca was in awe of the fact that she never seemed to get a hangover, no matter how toasted she was the night before.

So she wasn't worried about the fact that her brain had taken a dip in a slow motion swimming pool.

She just need to get in the club and see her girlfriend.

She finally made it to the door with the help of Amy and smiled brightly at the large man blocking the door.

"Hi, Steve!"

"Good evening Ms. Beale."

"Did Beca put me on the list?"

She held the 's' in 'list' entirely too long and she sounded like a drunk snake. She giggled.

"I'm sure she did, but you know I have to check!" He pulled his clipboard out and began scanning through the names.

It was then that Chloe felt a hand.

On her butt.

Squeezing.

Now, Chloe was an attractive person.

She realized this.

She embraced it.

She was used to the stares of men and women as she walked down the street, and sure she got the occasional cat call.

The attention didn't bother her, per say, and although there was the random crude comment; she had been lucky in the fact that most of the attention paid her was done so from afar and without comment.

Which was fine really.

Chloe was like artwork.

People could look.

But they couldn't touch.

All she would have had to do was draw Steve's attention to the act and he would have taken care of it. She had seen him protect the honor of a woman in his line on more than one occasion. It generally involved the big man picking the perp up by his ears, tossing him on the street, and threatening him within an inch of his life if he ever set foot in Steve's line again. Steve never forgot a face.

Maybe it was the alcohol.

Maybe it was the fact she didn't want Steve to fight her battles for her.

It was probably the alcohol.

But whatever it was had Chloe spinning around as fast her wobbly legs would let her. She could easily pick out the offender by the perverted smirk on his face and she reared back a fist, knuckles connecting solidly with the asshole's nose.

"What the fuck?"

Chloe was too preoccupied with her now throbbing hand to notice the blood pouring out of the man's nose or the way his friends were cheering her on, berating their friend for 'getting what he deserved.'

The next few minutes happened very quickly, and to be honest, Chloe didn't really remember them that well.

She remembered hearing a siren behind her, and seeing blue lights.

She remembered Amy running off.

She remembered Steve explaining to the cops what happened, but that's where things started to get blurry.

She's pretty sure she passed out at some point; when and where were kind off iffy.

She woke up on a cold, hard bench with a scratchy blanket pulled up around her. She wasn't a hundred percent sure that she wasn't still at least a little bit tipsy, particularly with the way the black bars obstructed her vision.

She rubbed her eyes and re-opened them, only to find that the bars were still there.

Prison bars.

She was in a jail cell.

Fuck. What exactly happened?

"Well, well, well. Looks like I'm not the only one with a record now, huh Beale?"

"Beca?"

Her tiny girlfriend came into view, an officer leading her towards Chloe's cell.

"What are you doing?"

"Bailing you out, my dear criminal."

Chloe watched as the officer unlocked the door to the cell, waving her forward.

"Here's your bag of belongings, Ms. Mitchell has already signed them out for you. As discussed, we'll be letting you out the back door so you can avoid the paparazzi."

"Thank you." She said politely.

"Don't let this happen again, it might not end up so well next time."

"Of course, officer." She wasn't exactly sure what had happened, but she figured anything that got her out of prison and into a limo headed to Malibu was a good thing.

Beca led her towards the dark limo, opening the door and ushering her in.

"What happened?" She asked as soon as her back hit the seat.

"Shouldn't I be the one asking you?" Beca had the gall to smirk.

"I don't remember . . . exactly."

"Well the short story, from what I can gather is, Amy got you super wasted, some guy grabbed your ass, you punched said guy, cops showed up and tried to arrest said guy, you wouldn't stop screaming about how your girlfriend was DJ B Mitch, cops were forced to arrest you for public intoxication."

"Oh."

"And apparently you have crazy good right jab, so major badass points there!"

"I vaguely remember punching a guy."

"Oh you nailed him alright, smack in the nose." Beca's voice was light but her shoulders were tense.

"Are you mad?"

"Mad?!"

Chloe nodded.

"I'm mad that Amy ditched you and that some guy touched you inappropriately. I'm mad that no one thought fit to tell me that you were in jail until most of my set was over. But mad because you laid into some asshole who thought he could put his hands on my girl? Never. It's what I would have done if I had been there." Her fingers brushed the hair from Chloe's face before she continued. "Are you ok?"

"I think so."

"Well, here's water, and advil, and some ice for your hand; although the prison doctor said it will probably be bruised and sore for a week."

She took the water and offered pills before burying her face in her good hand.

"I can't believe i got arrested."

"I always knew you were a firecracker!"

"This isn't funny, Bec."

"Oh, you haven't even heard the best part!"

"What?"

"The paparazzi was there!" She groaned and Beca continued. "I can see the headlines now! 'Beca Mitchell's Girlfriend Lays Into Pervert at Club: Has America's Favorite Bad Girl Finally Met Her Perfect Match?'"

"Nobody calls you 'America's Favorite Bad Girl', Becs."

"Well, who knows, they might now!"

"Why? What did you do?"

"I may have made sure that my previous arrest record got released to press with yours."

"That's kind of sweet! Diverting bad press away from me."

"Hey, I can't let you take all the badass points!"


	11. Chapter 11

**JustLettie - Can you do one where you show whipped chloe?**

 **Hope this works!**

Chloe's alarm ringtone was the most annoying sound in the universe.

'Irresistible' used to be her favorite song, but now every time she heard it she just wanted to chunk her phone across the room. Maybe there was something to be said for generic 'Marimba' alarm tones; at least then she wouldn't feel like screaming 'FIVE MORE MINUTES' every time Ryan Seacrest came on, because fortunately that particular tune was not one of the top 40 in America.

She groaned and slapped a hand across her phone, effectively silencing Demi Lovato.

"Becs, Becs-" She pushed half-heartedly against her sleeping partner. "You gotta get up, the girls will be awake soon."

The mass of blankets beside her didn't so much as move.

"They'll be asking questions if they find you in here."

Nothing.

"You're the one that wanted to keep us a secret, if you're okay with Amy making crude comments about our sex life then feel free to stay."

Beca grunted.

"Bec?" She rolled over and got to her knees as she began pulling blankets off the pile. "Are you ok?"

"Don't feel good."

It was a moan more than a statement, and as she reached the bottom of the pile, she found Beca - hair matted in sweat against the pillow and cheeks flushed red.

She sat back on her heels, stumped. In her three years of knowing Beca, she realized she had never once seen the younger girl so much as sniffle.

"What's wrong?"

"Throat. Head. Nose. Face." the response was muffled by the pillow smushed under the younger girl's face.

"Ummm. . . I don't think I've ever seen you sick before."

"Don't get sick."

She didn't even try to point out that the brunette was obviously sick now and instead tried a different tactic.

"What do you like done for you when you don't feel well?"

"Dunno."

"Well what did your mom do when you were little?"

"Worked."

"Well who took care of you?"

"Me."

"So no one ever babied you when you were sick?"

"Not a baby."

"Right."

So Beca had never had someone take care of her when she was sick? Well she had also never had Chloe Beale as her girlfriend while she was sick either.

"Let's get you upstairs and I'll get you all set up for a not-sick sick day."

"Chloeeeee." Beca whined, opening watery, bloodshot eyes.

"Yeah, sweetie?"She pushed bangs back from the DJ's face.

"Can I stay here?"

Their relationship wasn't 'out' to the Bellas yet, and while Chloe didn't care if they knew, she understood why Beca preferred to keep it under wraps for a little while longer. She knew that letting Beca stay in her room was a bad idea, that it was setting them up for discovery, but how could she say no when her girlfriend looked so pitiful?

"Of course, I'll figure out something to tell them. You rest."

She smoothed out the blankets and covered the DJ up, mind already hatching a plan.

Thankfully, it was Saturday, so she didn't have to worry about missing classes - one less thing to add to her growing list. She quickly took stock of her medicine cabinet and realized she exactly zero cold supplies, so a trip to the store was definitely in order. She dressed quickly and turned on her 'calming' spotify playlist for Beca before hurrying as quietly as possible down the stairs.

The Bellas were, of course, all huddled around the bar because there was no way she was going to get off easy.

"Have you seen Beca this morning?" Fat Amy started. "She wasn't in her bed. And it's barely 9:30 so it's nowhere near time for her to be up yet."

Just state it as plainly as possible. Don't sound nervous. They can smell fear.

"Beca's in my room. She's sick."

"Sick? I didn't know Beca got sick!" CR sounded way more interested in the 'Beca's sick' part than the 'Beca's in my room' part and Chloe desperately hoped it would stay that way.

"Wait. Why did she go to your room? She has a perfectly good roommate!"

Of course Fat Amy would dash her hopes of making this a simple getaway. Luckily Stacie cut in.

"Because Chloe is the mom of this group, duh." The other girls seemed to accept this and the leggy brunette continued. "Is there anything we can do?"

She allowed herself an internal sigh of relief.

"No, I don't think so, just keep it quiet and CR, Stacie - you guys are in charge of rehearsal."

She managed to sneak out of the Bellas' house before more questions came up, making the girls promise not to disturb Beca. She was now on the never-ending aisle of cold medicine at Walgreens, attempting to decide what to get. There were so many different options in so many different forms that she finally gave up and went to the pharmacy counter.

"Hi! Umm my girlfriend is sick and I have no idea what medicine to get, is there anyway you could help me?"

The pharmacist smiled politely.

"I'd be happy to help! What symptoms is she having?"

"Let's see, I think her complaints were - 'throat, head, nose, face.' So, whatever that gets me I guess."

The pharmacist chuckled.

"Sounds like the bug that's been going around Barden campus." She handed Chloe two bottles, a orange one and a blue one. "Alright, one medicine cup full of the orange stuff every four hours during the daytime and then switch to the blue stuff and night. If it doesn't clear up in a few days then she should go see a doctor, but hopefully this will help her get in tip-top shape."

Chloe nodded gratefully.

"Thank you so much, I'm sure she'll appreciate it!"

The rest of her list went much easier - cough drops (cherry, of course), chicken noodle soup, ginger ale, and gatorade for good measure. On impulse, she threw in a small stuffed bear with a flannel scarf, because nothing made you feel better than a stuffed animal, right?

She returned home with her purchases, quite proud of herself; and hurried back up to her room to find Beca exactly as she left her.

"Hey, Becs." She crooned softly, holding out a shot of medicine and a glass of ginger ale. "You need to take this medicine, it'll help you feel better."

The DJ moved to a sitting position and took first the medicine and then the drink.

"Thanks."

"Next, I got you this-" She pulled out the bear and she would swear that Beca's lip quivered as the younger girl reached out and took the bear, twisting the scarf between her fingers.

"And if you're hungry, I got you some soup."

"Soup?" Beca's red rimmed eyes lit up.

"Chicken noodle!"

"Oh."

"Oh? Is that not what you want? I can get you something else!"

"Some egg drop soup? From Panda Rose? If it's not too much trou-"

"No, no, no! Not at all! Egg drop soup, coming up! Do you want a cough drop for now? They're supposed to help with your throat too."

"Yes, please." She took the offered drop and popped in her mouth only to spit it right back out, disgust contorting her features.

"What's wrong?"

"Is that cherry?"

"Yes?"

"I don't like cherry."

"Right, sure, I can get a different flavor! What kind do you like?"

"Honey lemon?"

"Got it! Egg drop soup and honey lemon cough drops! I'll be back in a little bit." She pecked a kiss on Beca's forehead and stood to leave, only to be stopped in the doorway.

"Hey, Chlo?"

"Thank you."

"You're more than welcome, Becs."

By the time she made it back Bella's house - egg drop soup and honey lemon cough drops in tow- it was mid-afternoon. This time when she entered her room she found Beca propped up on pillows, the bear tucked under her arm, laptop propped in front of her, and pieces of kleenex plugging her nose.

"Were you leaking?"

"Yub."

"And I see you made it up for your laptop."

The DJ shook her head.

"I tegd Amby da ged id form be, she 'eld her bread da whold dime."

Chloe couldn't stop the chuckle that came from her girlfriend's stuffy nose voice and the image of Amy holding her breath to deliver to the quarantine zone.

"'Ay! Don lab ab be."

"I'm not laughing at you, it's just cute!"

"You're cude." Beca countered.

"Alright, Ms. Stuffy Nose - I've got your soup," She placed the container on the bedside table. "And I've got your cough drops." she dangled the bag in front of the brunette, who took them gratefully. "Is there anything else you need?"

Beca nodded, patting the bed beside her.

"Cuddle?"

"What if the girls see?" She didn't know why anyone would be barging in her room in the middle of the afternoon on a Saturday, but after her close call that morning, she was wary.

"I don' cared."

She couldn't help but smile as she kicked off her shoes and crawled up on the bed beside her girlfriend. Beca scooted the laptop to rest half on Chloe's lap and reached for the soup.

"'Ay, Chlo?"

"Yeah?"

"Danks ber takin' care o' be."

She placed a kiss on Beca's now cool cheek.

"That's what girlfriends are for!"

Amy's screech came from outside the doorway.

"Girlfriends?!"


	12. Chapter 12

**Upping the rating to M because *smut alert*.**

 **Request from Anne to revisit the part in Tell the World when Beca talks about the time Chloe tried to withhold sex and ended up caving after 20 minutes - This is slightly different than the original reference, because this flowed better**

"Come on, Becs! Sing it!" Chloe pleaded from her spot next to Beca at their kitchen counter.

"Nope!"

"Please!"

To Chloe's utmost frustration, Beca didn't even look up from her book when she replied -

"No can-dosville babydoll."

"How I Met Your Mother quotes are not going to get you out of this."

The DJ turned a page slowly.

"Get me out of what?"

"Singing the song."

"What song?"

Chloe huffed, her frustration bubbling to the surface.

"The song I've been begging you to sing for the past ten minutes."

One dark eyebrow rose.

"Which is?"

"Becs!" Chloe allowed a whine to tinge the words.

The other eyebrow rose to join the first.

"Chlo."

"The cup song!"

"A song about cups?"

"Beca!"

The brunette finally met her eyes over the top edge of the book.

"You made me sing that song at just about every college party we went to - I was like your personal party trick. Haven't I been through enough?" She looked back down at her book, completely missing Chloe's Oscar winning pout.

Conventional methods were obviously not going to work.

She peeled of her tank top and bra, adjusting herself in the DJ's line of sight before dropping her voice seductively.

"I could. . . make it worth your while?"

Beca's eyes snapped up to meet hers before dropping down to her chest. Blue eyes roamed freely over the exposed skin, and Chloe felt her cheeks heat under the close scrutiny. It wasn't like Beca had never seen her breasts before, they were on full display on their second meeting; and she had seen them countless times since they had finally crossed the line into 'couple' territory. But every time Beca looked at her like this, she got the distinct impression that this must be what pieces of famous artwork must feel like - if art work had feelings that is. Because Beca looked at her with a sort of reverent awe that made her want to display more and cover herself up at the same time. The blue eyes that studied her body moved in the same way they would if they were studying a Picasso or a Rembrandt - like they were trying to imprint every last detail to memory, like looking was a privilege that they might never get again and they needed to soak everything in.

In moments like these, she imagined this is what one of Michelangelo's sculptures would feel like if they could feel the stares of tourists. Self-concisous about the imperfections she knows are there, but also confident that said imperfections did nothing to take away from the way that Beca's eyes were slowly devouring her.

The DJ slowly met her eyes once again, the corners of her mouth twisting upwards in a smirk.

"Are you pimping yourself out for a song?"

"Depends, is it working?"

"No." Dilated pupils betrayed the lie and for a moment Chloe thought she had won.

"No?" she hummed thoughtfully before reaching up to smooth a hand through her tousled curls.

"Oh believe me, I want to pick up what you're putting down. But I don't thing I need to sing a song for that."

"Well if you think I'm just going to -" The words dried in her throat as Beca's hands reached for the bottom of her own shirt, tugging it over her head in one swift motion. Ample cleavage was spilling over the black lace covering them, and soon even that last barrier was gone and Beca was standing half naked in front of her.

Well. She didn't plan for that.

"What were you saying?" the younger girl's nipples quickly hardened as they were exposed to the air, and Chloe gulped.

Stay on track.

"I'm not having sex with you until you sing the song." She meant to say it firmly, with conviction; but instead it came out rushed and breathless.

Beca laughed.

"I have a proposition for you."

"I'm listening."

"If I cave first, I have to sing the song. If you cave first, the only singing is going to be coming from you when I make you come."

The DJ's words sent a shiver down her spine, but she was still pretty confident in her skills to make the other girl cave.

"Deal."

She extended a hand and Beca took it, shaking it lightly before using it to tug Chloe into her.

She gasped as their bare skin brushed together, tiny lightning bolts shooting down her spine. Beca's hands came up to rest on her hips, fingers slipping into the loops on her jeans.

"So," Soft lips brushed her neck as Beca whispered softly. "I'm thinking . . ." The lips caressed her skin in a gentle barrage of open mouth kisses, wet tongue darting out to taste her skin. "That I should have bet something bigger. Because this is going to be so easy."

"Bigger?" The word came out strangled as Beca's teeth sank into the skin above her collar bone. She moaned as gentle kisses soothed the offended area.

"Upped the ante, so to speak."

"Right, right." she cursed the breathlessness of her voice, of her reaction to the way that Beca so easily worked her into a frenzy.

"What- ummph- what did you . . ." Beca's hand twisted in her hair. "Ahhh-hhh-hh have in mind?"

"You do the dishes."

The DJ pulled back to look her in the eyes and she groaned at the loss of contact.

"For a month."

"What?" Her brain stuttered, trying to remember what they were talking about. "Yeah, sure, a month." Chloe agreed, but honestly there wan't much she wouldn't have said yes to to hurry Beca's lips back to her body.

She briefly pondered that this wasn't the best indicator for the rest of the bet, but any coherent thought quickly fled as Beca's teeth snagged her earlobe. An involuntary shiver racked her body as cold fingers kneaded her breast.

Some small part of her brain was urging her to fight back, to tempt her girlfriend in the same way that she was being tempted. It bubbled to the surface for a moment before she was drowning in desire again.

Hands rounded her ass, lifting her up onto the counter and she found herself wondering when exactly her pants had come off. Beca's lips trailed up her thigh, stopping just shy of where she needed them, the brunette pulling away to stand across the kitchen.

The only indication of her arousal was the way her shoulders heaved as she sucked in air, and Chloe found herself admiring the way the lowrider jeans hugged her girlfriend's hips.

Shirtless and jeans was definitely a good look for the DJ.

"Bec." She heard herself whine.

"Chlo." Sparkling blue eyes leveled in her direction. "Was there something you wanted to ask me?"

She groaned and allowed herself to fall back onto the counter.

"Please?"

Fingers drifted temptingly up her calf.

"Please what?"

She already did the dishes half the time anyway.

And it wasn't like she could try to get Beca to sing the song again tomorrow.

She whimpered.

"You win, I give; just please touch me."

No sooner had the words left her lips than Beca's fingers were plunging into her, stealing the breath from her lungs.

"So wet, baby."

She could only whine in response, all of her concentration focusing on the way the DJ's fingers were curling inside her.

It should have been embarrassing, how quickly she found herself teetering on the edge; but really, this was Beca, and of course the younger girl knew just how to hit all the right buttons.

Relief washed over her waves, and as she finally regained her mental powers, she could see Beca's smirking face above her.

"Don't get cocky, Mitchell."

"No?"

"We never said what would happen if I made you beg too."


	13. Chapter 13

"Have you ever kissed a girl?"

Chloe set down the cupcake that she had been frosting for the Bella's bake sale, (they made plenty of money from appearances, but Chloe insisted that they have the bake sale, something about Bella's tradition), and Beca felt her heart pound in her chest. She was really hoping to keep this casual and not a 'stop everything I'm doing and devote all of my attention to Beca', situation.

"What?"

She avoided Chloe's blue eyes, instead reaching around the redhead to grab another unfrosted cupcake.

"Have you ever kissed a girl?" She repeated, desperately hoping that her voice didn't betray her nerves.

"Oh," her best friend picked up her previously abandoned cupcake and shrugged. "Yeah, I kissed Aubrey once, just to see what it felt like; oh and then I kissed Stacie once - we were drunk at a Trebles' party and there was a dare."

"You kissed Stacie?!" She heard her voice squeak and she winced. "How do I not remember this?"

"Sophomore year, one of the Trebles parties that you didn't go to."

"Well- well how did I not at least hear about it?"

"I'm pretty sure nobody remembers it, we were . . . pretty wasted. Besides, it's no big deal, just two girls kissing - as friends - nothing more."

Not for the first time, Beca found herself wishing that she had half of Chloe's sexual confidence and nonchalance. Maybe if she did she wouldn't be so fucking nervous right now.

"Right, cause like, yeah totally- girls kiss all the time - no big deal."

Chloe laughed, that musical sound spilling from her lips.

"I kiss friends all the time - guys and girls."

"Right." Beca repeated, keeping her attention on the cupcake.

Chloe was silent, and Beca felt a rare burst of nervous energy from the redhead.

"You don't think . . . you don't think less of me because I . . . get around, do you?"

She snickered. "Get around? What is this? The 1960s?"

Chloe laughed again, but this time it was strained.

"Well, do you?"

"What?! No! You do you, man! Girl power!"

Chloe's smile returned easily.

"Good! Just checking!"

They frosted in silence for a few minutes before Chloe's hip bumped hers.

"Why'd you wanna know if I've kissed a girl?"

"No reason, just curious."

Chloe hummed. "You thinking about taking a dip in the lady pool there, Becs?"

"What? No! I -"

"Becs! It's totally ok if you are."

She swallowed hard, trying desperately to work up her courage.

"I mean, I might be thinking about it."

"Becs! I'm so proud of you! Exploring your sexuality! Look how far you've come since closed off, freshman Beca."

Her cheeks were hot with embarrassment, and for a moment she wondered if she could follow through with her plan.

"Do you have any, uh, pointers?"

Chloe's smirk could beat Beca's on a good day.

"Something tells me you don't need any pointers in the kissing department there, DJ."

"W-w-what?"

"Come on," Chloe's eyes drifted over her figure. "That rocking body, that attitude -" She winked. "There's no way you're not a great kisser."

Her eyes widened and she shoved a cupcake in her mouth to avoid having to formulate a response.

If she were honest with herself, she would say that she was slightly offended at Chloe's responses. The redhead obviously had no qualms about kissing friends - same sex or otherwise - and she had admitted herself that she thought Beca would be a great kisser - the only question was why had she not kissed Beca? She chewed thoughtfully before swallowing.

There had to be a reason right?

She didn't want to ask, didn't want to open that can of worms; but something compelled he, some sort of desperation - for love or self-destruction, she wasn't sure. Who knows, maybe it was both.

"Why . . ." Her throat closed up and she swallowed before starting again. "Why haven't we kissed?"

When Chloe finally spoke, her voice was overly cheerful in a way that made Beca wonder what was really going through her mind.

"I didn't know you were interested, Bec! Looking to get some practice in for your lady love?"

"What? No! I - I mean it's not like that, I just -"

"I'll kiss you."

"What?"

If there was a world record for saying the word 'what' in a conversation, Beca was probably going to win it with this one.

"I'll kiss you," Chloe repeated. "If you tell me who your lady crush is."

That simply would not do.

"Uhhhhhhhh." She drew the syllable out until she ran out of breath.

"Oh my god, is it Stacie? It's Stacie isn't it?!" Chloe's hand smacked her arm and she winced.

"Ow! Geez! No, it's not Stacie."

"It's possible! She's hot!" The older girl shrugged before falling silent, and for a moment Beca thought she might drop the subject.

No such luck.

"Is it Emily?"

"Chlo! She's like, a baby!"

Chloe rolled her eyes.

"She turned 19 last month, Bec."

"Still, just, no."

"Ok. If it's not Emily . . ." her fingers drummed the countertop in a staccato beat. "Is it Aubrey?"

"Aubrey?!"

"What? You guys are friends now!"

"Right, well, there's a long way between 'friends' and 'I want to kiss you'."

"True, but I always thought you guys had a weird sexual chemistry."

"No, it's not Aubrey."

"Well then who is it." Chloe groaned out as if she would die without the answer. "Beeccaaa."

She felt her cheeks heat again.

"Chlo, it's no big deal."

"Well, I'm not kissing you if you don't tell me."

"I'm not - this isn't - I didn't mean for this to turn into a you kissing me thing."

Liar, she totally did.

"I just was shocked is all, that you had kissed a girl - girls - and I didn't realize that you swung that way."

"Oh, Becs." Chloe winked again. "I swing every way."

"Right, well I - I just meant that I was just starting a conversation, I wasn't expecting you to kiss me - or anything."

"I guess it wouldn't be fair to the girl you're interested in. I mean she probably wouldn't be able to live up to my kissing skills anyway."

Beca gulped.

"Your pretty confident, about all that."

The older girl smirked.

"I mean, I could show you why."

"N-no, that - that won't be necessary." Beca gulped.

A hundred different times trying to start this conversation, and this was the farthest she had gotten; it was safe to say this was the best chance she would ever have. She started again.

"I mean, I believe you; I mean, I don't . . . kiss friends."

Chloe was looking at her expectantly and she found herself cursing her own inability to form complete sentences under pressure.

"If I was going to kiss a girl, it would definitely be you; I just-"

"Becs!" Chloe interrupted her, setting her cupcake down on the counter and turned Beca to face her, settling a hand on the DJ's cheek. "It's ok, just calm down."

Chloe's eyes were like calming beacons of hope, pulling Beca in and wrapping her up in a warm cocoon of confidence. She surged forward, capturing the redhead's lips with her own.

As their lips and tongues melded together, she found herself thinking that this - this was what people meant when they said that kissing was like fireworks.

After a few minutes, or hours; she wasn't sure; they pulled apart - a contented smile settling over Chloe's features.

"Well," the redhead drawled. "How was your first lady kiss?"

Beca felt her swagger returning with the breathlessness of Chloe's voice.

"It was alright, I guess."

"Alright?!" Chloe's hand smacked her arm.

"Ok, ok -better than alright." She grinned and they turned back to the cupcakes.

"Soo, that kiss, was just as friends?" There was a hesitant questioning in Chloe's voice and Beca felt her heart pounding in her chest again.

"Yeah, totally - friends." She set the cupcake down again and leaned against the counter to face Chloe. "Or . . . we could go out, on a date. And maybe see where it goes?"

Chloe's face split into a huge grin.

"Are you asking me out?"

"Yes?"

Chloe's squeal was so loud that Beca thought her eardrums would burst. Strong arms snatched her into a vice grip hug.

"She finally asked me!" Chloe screeched out, and Beca squirmed to get away, only to have the redhead clutch her tighter.

There was a stampede of footsteps into the kitchen, and they were suddenly surrounded by a mass of Bellas.

"Shawshank finally got up the guts?" CR was the first to comment and Chloe nodded before giving her a high five.

"Yes! Finally! Told you that she would get her head out of her ass eventually!" Amy crowed.

"Wait, hold up. You guys all knew that Chloe had a thing for me?"

The girls nodded.

"Why didn't you say something?" She turned to the redhead.

"Because you needed to figure out you liked me on your own. I didn't want to pressure you or make you feel like you HAD to go out with me. I wanted you to come to the conclusion naturally."

That actually made really good sense, except -

"What if I never figured it out?"

"Then I would live my life content to be your best friend. But I had a feeling you'd come around."

"Right, well I guess we both got lucky then."

Turns out, kissing girls- or, at least, one particular girl - pretty high on Beca's list of favorite things to do.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: You can thank Spikkles8 for getting this headcannon stuck in my head!**

"And that is why pepperoni is - and always will be - the greatest pizza topping known to man."

"That is . . . a very thorough description of the the value of pepperoni."

Cloe squeezed her arm before continuing. "But can't we just agree to alway get half pepperoni and half Italian sausage with olives?"

"I guess." Beca scrunched up her nose in distaste. "As long as we keep all of those nasty olives on your side!"

"Nasty olives, huh? Chloe leaned over her menacingly, and Beca pushed her face away with a splayed palm.

"Ew! Beale!" She screeched. "Get your nasty olive breath away from me!" She squirmed away from the redhead's grip and turned to unlock the door to the Bella's house. Chloe tried to lean over her shoulder, but she twisted and turned to shield herself.

"Chlo!" she couldn't help but giggle as the taller girl's chin dug into her neck. She was overpowered by the press of the redhead at her back , and they stumbled through the now open door. For a moment, they were a mess of swatting hands and tickling fingers, but the sound of someone loudly clearing their throat instantly sobered them.

Beca turned, Chloe's arm still draped loosely over her shoulder. There was a crowd of Bellas huddled around the fire place, a giant banner stretched over their heads.

It wasn't the shiny, glitter covered birthday banner, but the sloppily painted "Intervention" banner that they had crafted one night during a drunken 2AM marathon of How I Met Your Mother.

She stopped cold and Chloe ran into her back.

"Guys? What's going on?" Her eyes flitted around the room, searching. "Is CR gambling again?"

"Really?" Cynthia-Rose rounded the corner from the kitchen. "I'm right here! I told you guys, I haven't gambled in over 6 months!"

"And I'm really happy for you dude, but then why are we here?"

"Are Jessica and Ashley singing showtunes at all hours of the night?" Chloe piped up.

"I this about Lily being creepy?"

"Is Legacy staring at people again?"

"Are we finally going to talk about the fact that Amy has been stealing money from me for the past 3 years?"

"Beca! we aren't supposed to talk about that!"

"Well, it's getting really annoying, I mean -"

"Ladies!" Stacie stood to her full height and stepped in front of the girls, gesturing to Beca and Chloe. "While you've both raised some good points that probably need to be addressed soon, that's not why we're here today."

"Then why are we here?"

"Bec, they were all here without us, so it's obviously about one of us - " She turned suddenly to the other Bellas. "Is she sleep eating again?"

"Hey! What makes you think it's me?! It could just as easily be you! Right, Stace?"

"Actually," the long-legged brunette sounded apologetic. "This involves both of you."

Beca glanced at Chloe to see the redhead worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. Before she even realized what she was doing, she placed herself between Chloe and the other girls. "Is this about the extra practice? Because we just want you guys to be in tip-top shape to beat DSM. And it's really me, that wanted it; not Chloe -"

"Beca!" Fat Amy exclaimed, frustration leaking into her voice. "This isn't about the extra practices, although I could do without the cardio."

"If this isn't about the extra practice, then what's it about?" Chloe's voice was quiet but firm from over Beca's shoulder.

The girls studied each other nervously before CR stepped forward.

"Look, I know as well as anybody how scary and frustrating it can be to come to terms with your sexuality."

"Sexuality?"

Cynthia Rose looked back to Stacie and Amy for support, and they moved to flank her.

"Trust Black Beauty," The Australian piped up. "She knows about lesbians."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Beca stepped backwards, inadvertently bumping into Chloe. "Lesbians?"

Stacie sighed dramatically.

"Look, you two have been sporting toners for each other since Beca's freshman year, and frankly, the sexual tension between you two has become unbearable lately."

"Yeah, you're making Legacy feel uncomfortable - and imagine how awkward it was for me to have to explain that you guys aren't a couple!" Amy gestured to the younger girl who was wincing at the co-captains.

Beca's heart thumped in her chest, and she chewed her lip - desperately searching Chloe's face for any sign of what she might be thinking.

She was more than a little surprised to see Chloe's baby blue eyes filled with confusion and worry. Her bottom lip was snared between her teeth again and her hands had left Beca's shoulders to wring nervously in front of her.

Beca's heart dropped to her feet. This is not how she wanted this to go.

She tried to keep the tremor out of her voice as she turned to Amy.

"Can you give us a little time alone?"

"Of course, short stack, we'll leave you chicks to it." She gave Beca an exaggerated wink. "Come on, Bellas! To the cinema! My sexy fat ass can't wait to see Ryan Reynolds in spandex!"

The Bellas filed out after the Australian in a fairly neat fashion, and Beca found herself wondering why they couldn't be that organized at rehearsals. Once they were all through the front door, she turned to see that Chloe had taken a seat on the couch and was currently avoiding her gaze. This was definitely not how she wanted tonight to go. She had been having a nice evening with her best friend - a walk in the park, pizza at their favorite place - and then the Bellas had to go and meddle. She had told Amy how she felt about Chloe in confidence, but she should have known better than to think that the blond would keep it to herself.

She dropped down next to Chloe, slouching into the cushions. "Well," she studied her nails. "This is awkward."

Chloe was silent, though Beca could see her jaw working out of the corner of her eye as she studied the walls.

"Chlo, I -"

"Becs-"

Nervous laughter tittered between them at their simultaneous outbursts. The DJ reached a hand to scratch the back of her neck as Chloe shifted to face her, eyes pleading.

"Can I . . . go first?" The question was hesitant, and Beca was regretful that she had caused the overly confident Chloe Beale to doubt herself. She fluttered a hand in the redhead's direction, pulse pounding in her temples at the thought of what the older girl might be about to say.

 _"_ _Becs, I don't think we should be friends anymore."_

 _"Becs, is what they're saying true? Do you like me? because if it is, then I just don't think I can be around you."_

"Becs. . . " Her fingers twisted in her lap, and Beca resisted the urge to reach out and take them in her own. "I think . . . " Blue eyes flitted up to meet hers. "This is my fault."

She felt the air get sucked out of her lungs.

"Your fault?" Her lips stuttered over the words.

Chloe hesitated - she looked scared almost of what she was about to say - and Beca wondered what the heck she could be about to divulge.

"I talked to Stacie about . . . things - and I - I thought that she would keep it quiet, but obviously I misjudged."

Blue eyes were locked on Beca's face, and she felt the pressure to respond.

"You - you talked to Stacie about . . . what, exactly?"

If anything, Chloe only seemed to get more nervous.

"Umm, I just - I needed someone to talk to - about how I felt; and Stacie seemed like a good choice."

"How you felt about what?"

The older girl ran a hand through her red curls.

"You."

Beca couldn't breathe.

Her ribs cramped around her lungs, refusing to expand.

"Me?"

Chloe nodded, eyes latched on to the crown molding.

The DJ's mind raced. Chloe thought that she was the reason the Bellas held the intervention, because she had talked to Stacie about Beca. And she was worried that Beca would be upset.

Beca laughed, louder than she intended, and Chloe startled, turning to stare at her.

"Sorry, I just - " She sighed. If this was happening, she might was well put everything out there. "I talked to Amy, about you. I knew it was a bad idea, but she's my best friend - other than you of course - and I obviously couldn't talk to you. I expected some teasing, but never this."

Some of the light began returning to Chloe's eyes, and the corner of her mouth quirked upward.

"So, it sounds like Stacie and Amy got tired of listening to us and decided to talk to each other."

"And stage all this." Beca gestured to the banner.

"I guess they got tired of us skirting around the inevitable."

"The inevitable?"

One minute Chloe was staring at her, eyes wide with revelation, the next her lips were on Beca's; warm and pressing, breathing life back into her stunned muscles. Her hands settled on the redhead's shoulders, gripping tightly as their mouths moved in sync.

Finally.

The Bellas had almost gotten kicked out of the theater twice, but they made it all the way through; finally making it home around midnight. The lights were out in the house, not surprising since their co-captains were no doubt making like Marvin Gaye and getting it on.

As soon as the lights came on though, they were met with the sight of Beca and Chloe sitting side by side on the couch like disapproving parents, the intervention banner still stretched over their heads. They were dressed in pajamas, and while they had always been close, they were somehow closer now, hands clutched between them.

"Looks like you guys took our advice." Stacie remarked smugly.

The two lovebirds shared a look before turning back to the girls.

"You know," Chloe began. "We're very grateful for your nudge in the right direction. But now it's time we have an intervention of our own."

Emily spoke for the group. "About what?"

"About you guys meddling in our shit." Beca's voice was a growl, but Chloe's giggle belayed their anger.

The Bellas each spared a glance at the couple seated in front of them before parading up the stairs.

"Hey!" Beca called after them, but they continued. "Come back here!"

"Babe, just let them go. I have better plans for you anyway."

Amy's voice echoed down the steps.

"I expect you'll be sleeping in the ginger's room tonight as there is to be no hanky panky while I'm in the room."

As much as Beca wanted to roll her eyes, or huff at all of them about their interference; there was something in the way that Chloe's fingers were twined with hers that kept her quiet.

Maybe it was nice having friends to meddle.


	15. Chapter 15

**Spikkels8 prompts are so hard to resist - Beca just can't seem to keep her hands off of her co-captain!**

Sidewalks were stupid.

They were fine, for walking by yourself.

Two people were ok, as long as there was no one coming from the opposite direction.

Three people?

Well, that left the awkwardness of figuring out who was going to play the odd man out.

A whole group of girls?

Half drunk and stumbling from the karaoke bar to Bellas' house?

That was a whole different story.

Beca was more than content to take the lead, walking along by herself as the rest of the Bellas staggered behind her. She was happier listening to the din of their raucous conversation than she was participating anyway; her buzzed brain blurring her thoughts too much to really pay attention enough to contribute.

Her subconscious led her feet down the oft travelled path, dodging the random groups of college students making their way too and from Saturday night parties.

The alcohol that coated her brain in a warm glow did more than just increase her tolerance level for the Bellas' loud and rather irritating conversations. (It wasn't that she didn't love her girls and being around them; they were just a little . . . much sometimes.) The buzz also opened up the doors that sober Beca usually kept locked. Doors that led to thoughts about pretty redheads.

Or one particular redhead named Chloe.

Chloe.

Who managed to make even Beca's worse days seem manageable.

Chloe.

Who always made sure she took breaks to eat and drink plenty of water when she was on one of her mixing binges.

Chloe.

Who made the cutest little face when she thought something Beca said was funny.

Chloe.

Who always acted super confident but secretly confided in Beca that sometimes she felt completely incompetent - to which Beca ardently swore that Chloe was perfect.

Chloe.

Who was a party Saturday night but a movie in bed Sunday afternoon.

Chloe.

Who was her best friend.

Who was definitely not interested in girls.

Who, even she was interested in girls, was most certainly not interested in Beca.

"Becs!"

She heard Chloe's warning shriek a split second before she felt the pain shooting up her toe, the uneven edge of the sidewalk causing her to lose her balance.

She was tumbling, until she wasn't- Chloe's hand snatching her elbow and pulling her back, keeping her from what surely would have been a face plant into the concrete. Her feet collided together as she attempted to regain her balance and stand on her own, twisting her until she was face to face with the redhead; her co-captain's other hand grabbing her shoulder in an effort to keep her from falling backwards.

Beca's own hands reached up to grip Chloe's arms, only because of the alcohol making her head fuzzy, or maybe it was the dizziness from her almost fall, or maybe Beca was just a complete klutz-ball - whatever the reason, her hands didn't land on Chloe's biceps.

They landed- well let's just say it was the portion of Chloe's torso no doubt covered in some lacy, colorful fabric from Victoria's secret.

Not that Beca was trying to FEEL anything, not at all.

Any squeezing that might have happened was purely a knee-jerk reaction as she tried desperately to find something, anything to hold on to.

"Becs?"

Chloe's voice was a musical giggle, one that sent instant heat to her cheeks as she looked down to see that her hands were still covering her best friends breasts, the tops of which were peeking just above her v-neck blouse.

"Right! S-s-sorry!" She jerked her hands back. "Thanks for, uh, saving me."

Chloe's hands still rested on her shoulders and she used them to shake the DJ lightly.

"Becs, if you wanted to have a feel of the girls, you could have just asked!"

She winked and leaned in, and Beca found herself fighting to keep her breathing even as her eyes drifted shut. It wasn't that she wanted to Chloe to kiss her.

It wasn't that she had spent hours thinking about what Chloe's lips like feel like pressed against hers.

It was just -

Chloe's breath smelled fruity from the margaritas as it whispered across her face; but then her nose scrunched up brushing swiftly against Beca's in an eskimo kiss. It was cold from the night air, and the touch made Beca's stomach flip.

And she was gone, as quickly as she had came; hands rubbing briskly up and down Beca's arms.

"Geez, you'd never know she was the co-captain of a three time national collegiate acapella group that specializes in synchronized lady dancing!" Stacie smirked as the the girls all bumped past her, taking Chloe with them.

And so she trudged along behind them, once again tuning out the conversation as she tried to block out thoughts of Chloe.

"5,6,7,8" Chloe's fingers snapped as she called out the tempo to the rest of the Bellas.

"And 1, 2, 3, 4." The girls began moving in practiced synchronization, their feet moving in the complicated patterns that Chloe had arranged.

Beca, however, was less concerned with the choreography, and more concerned with how good her co-captain's ass looked in those yoga pants.

Not that she was looking.

She was never looking.

At least, if anyone ever asked, that's what she told them.

Not at Chloe's beautiful face with those bright blue eyes and those perfect teeth.

Not at her gorgeous red hair that somehow managed to look like it belonged in an Herbal Essence commercial no matter if it was styled in flowing curls or pulled back into a sweaty bun.

Not her strong arms with the visibly defined biceps that could probably bench press twice her own weight and could most definitely pin Beca to the -

"Beca!" Chloe's voice startled her and her concentration broke - her feet confusing the complicated step and sending her tumbling.

Only she didn't hit the floor.

Instead she found herself face to face with Chloe's cleavage for the second time this week.

Not that she was complaining.

Her hands brushed Chloe's chest before settling just below her brightly colored sports bra. She sucked in a breath that she hoped wasn't as audible as it felt and Chloe's blue eyes lit up with mischief.

"You're really making this a habit, Beca. Sure there's not something you wanna tell me?"

"What-?! No-! I-!"

"Kiss the ginger already, so we can get out of practice b/c you guys are too busy making out!"

Fat Amy's words sent a flush rushing to her cheeks, but Chloe's smirk only widened.

"Becs?"

"I - I - I - don't- " She searched desperately for the words, hands clenching involuntarily at Chloe's skin.

"You don't want to kiss me?" Chloe sounded almost wounded at the insinuation.

Or maybe that was just wishful thinking.

"Well, I - I -."

Chloe leaned in until Beca could feel lips moving against ear.

"Take all the time you need, Bec."

She shivered at the tingling in her spine, holding her breath as Chloe backed away, one finger reaching out to boop Beca on the nose.

"Okay, let's try it again from the top!" Chloe clapped her hands at the girls, signaling them back in formation.

"Maybe two left feet up there can keep it in her pants this time."

"Nice one, Legacy!" Amy leaned over to give the younger girl a high five.

Beca refused to give a response, instead turning to front of the room and hitting the play button on her speaker remote.

Being short came with it's perks.

Fitting into small spaces.

Looking younger than you actually were.

Pretty much everyone could easily give you piggyback rides, which was helpful if you were drunk or tired.

It also came with quite a few cons.

Amusement park rides, for one.

Various nicknames - hobbit, elf, etc, etc.

And possibly the most annoying side effect of being short -

Reaching things on high shelves.

It was damn near impossible to reach to the second shelf of the kitchen cabinets without a step, much less the top shelf. And if Beca had her way, the vital necessities - like Oreos - would be stored on the bottom shelf where all members of the house could access them. Unfortunately, she lived some tall bitches - bitches that liked to hide Oreos from their short friends.

Which is exactly why she found herself on a stepladder in the Bellas' kitchen at 2AM on a Tuesday, stretching farther than she probably should have to reach the sleeve of Oreos that she knew Stacie had hidden in one of the top cabinets.

She had been up late mixing when the craving had hit, and once she had thought about eating Oreos, she couldn't stop thinking about them. A giant pile of cookies being slowly soaked one by one in a giant glass of cold milk -

"Watcha doin', Bec?"

Her one track mind paired her precarious position on the ladder made for a situation straight out of one of those cheesy safety videos.

She tumbled, and this time when Chloe reached out to catch her they both fell, hitting the kitchen floor with a thud. It wasn't that bad of a fall, really - considering she landed on top of Chloe. Their bodies pressed together; chest to chest, legs tangled together - Beca fought to keep her breathing under control despite the way the close proximity made her heart race.

"Oh my god, dude, are you okay?"

Chloe's eyes were bright with mirth, laugh barely contained as she spoke.

"Beca, I'm fine, but if you really wanted to be on top -"

It all came crashing down.

The Bellas' teasing.

Chloe's teasing.

The past four years of watching Chloe from afar, dreaming about what might be, could be.

The almosts.

The not quites.

Before she could register the action, her head was dropping down; closing the space between them. Chloe's lips were soft and warm and her tongue tasted like mint when it brushed against hers. She sighed into the kiss, years of pent up frustration seeping into the connection where their lips met.

Eventually, her lungs demanded that she break the kiss, and when she pulled back Chloe's whole face seemed to sparkle.

"You just can't keep your hands to yourself can you?"

She wasn't wrong - one of Beca's hands was tangled in red locks and the other gripped at Chloe's hip.

"Beale." The DJ said warningly.

"Mitchell." Chloe giggled.

"Shut up."

Chloe's mouth opened for response but she pressed a finger against the bright red lips.

"And don't even think about saying something corny like 'Make me.'"

Chloe shook her head and Beca replaced her finger with her lips, only to have the Chloe break the kiss.

"I was going to say it's about damn time!"

Beca growled, but Chloe only giggled again tugging her down for a kiss that soon made her grateful for her two left feet and tendency to get distracted.


End file.
